Besides the four great Kagyu branches the later histories count eight lesser ones.
Those of our area besides Drikung, Taklung and Drukpa (which have their own records) are: Trophu, founded by Gyeltsa Rinchen Gon (1118-1195) and Kunden Repa (1148-1217); Yelpa, by Druptop Yeshe Tsekpa (born 1134), who founded Shar Yelphuk and Jang Tana; Shugseb (Shuksep), by Gyergom Chenpo Zhonnu Drakpa (1090-1171) at Nyiphu; and Yazang, by Sharawa Kalden Yeshe Sengge (died 1207), whose pupil Yazang Choje Chomonlam (1169-1233) founds the monastery of Yabzang in Yarlung only in 1206 (en Wikipedia, Kagyu). Martsang is a name we recall as a lesser branch; the page does not describe it. None of these houses is known to hold more than its hermitages and a patron's gifts, and none has a recorded quarrel or war in 1199-1200.
They are one record because the sources we could open give a founder and a life span for each and nothing else.
Who holds it
- Name
- Gyeltsa Rinchen Gon (Trophu, 1118-1195), Kunden Repa (Trophu, 1148-1217), Druptop Yeshe Tsekpa (Yelpa, born 1134), Sharawa Kalden Yeshe Sengge (Yazang, died 1207)
- Title
- Heads of the lesser Kagyu houses
- Since
- not pinned
- Confidence
- low
En Wikipedia (Kagyu) lists these branches with their founders and dates of life but gives no founding dates, no sites and no holders for 1200 (Yamsang is not on the page; Martsang is not on it either). Who sits in each house on 1 January 1200 is not given.
Overlord
none: no one rules Tibet in 1200; the house answers to its own patrons and to the custom of the valleys
What it holds
- Hermitages and small monasteries of the founders (sites not pinned)
- Disciples and patrons (not named)
How it was acquired
Twelfth century, by the founders named (no years given by the page).
Allies and rivals
All descend, through Phagmo Drupa or Gampopa's other pupils, from the Dagpo Kagyu. No quarrel recorded.
How things stand that morning
Small and scattered; some founders are old or dead (Gyeltsa Rinchen Gon died in 1195; Gyergom Zhonnu Drakpa in 1171).
Wealth
No source we could open gives figures; the usual base is estates and serfs, herds, pass tolls, trade in salt, wool, tea and barley, and the gifts of patrons.
Military
No standing army; the house or lord calls on retainers, tenants and kin. No troop numbers are given by any source we could open.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1206Yazang Choje Chomonlam founds Yabzang monastery in Yarlung.Depends on: Yazang's founder dying in 1207 and the lineage continuing (en Wikipedia). Stopped by: Loss of his patrons.
Where the sources disagree
- The brief's list does not name these houses; the Kagyu page's list of eight lesser branches does. Barom Kagyu (Barompa Darma Wangchuk, 1127-1199 or 1200, Barom Riwoche in Nangchen, 1160) has no record on this map (the Kham research wrote none, so it is not drawn) and its founder dies at the turn of the year.
- Shuksep is dated by the page to a founder who died in 1171; our recollection of a founding in 1181 by a pupil is not used.
Evidence: Only a list of founders and life dates on one page. Treasury of Lives, the Blue Annals, the Red Annals, Petech, Sorensen and Hazod and Davidson could not be opened in this session (treasuryoflives.org and rigpawiki.org refused the fetch; the archive.org full texts were refused or cut off), so facts marked 'recalled' are from memory of those works and unchecked.
On the map: No seat and no map part: no site is pinned. They are covered on the province records of Ü.
Primary sources for Tibet (centre)
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- History of Buddhism in India and Tibet, Buton Rinchen Drub (Bu ston Rin chen grub) (1322). Optional background. Read online
- The Blue Annals, Go Lotsawa Zhonnu Pal ('Gos lo tsa ba gZhon nu dpal) (1476 to 1478). The fullest Tibetan account of who mattered around 1200, written three centuries later from earlier biographies and lineage records, many now lost. Read online
- The collected works of Lama Zhang, and the early Kagyu lives, Lama Zhang (Zhang Yudrakpa Tsondru Drakpa) and his disciples; the biographers of Drigung, Taklung and Phagmodru (the 1160s to the early 13th century). The nearest contemporary witnesses to the lords of central Tibet in 1200. Read online
- The Sakya genealogy, and the works of the Sakya hierarch of 1200, Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen (Grags pa rgyal mtshan) and Sakya Pandita; the genealogy by Ngawang Kunga Sonam (the hierarchs' writings about 1170 to 1250; the genealogy 1629). Sakya in 1200 was ruled by Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen, the third of the five founders, with his nephew Kunga Gyaltsen (later Sakya Pandita, born 1182) under his teaching. Read online
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- Indo-Tibetica (the temples and inscriptions of western Tibet), with the Royal Genealogy of Ngari, Giuseppe Tucci (editor and translator); the genealogy by Ngawang Drakpa (Ngag dbang grags pa) (the inscriptions and temple records of the 11th to 15th centuries; Indo-Tibetica published 1932 to 1941; the genealogy about 1497). Guge, Purang and Ladakh in 1200 are among the least documented kingdoms in the atlas. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.