The Indus valley of Ladakh and its side valleys, Nubra and the eastern pastures: barley villages in the river valley, herding on the high plateau and a trade road that joins Kashmir, Yarkand and Tibet.
The chronicle puts the limits at the Zoji La in the west and Rudok in the east. The Brokpa chiefs are believed to have ruled at Khalatse until the twelfth century, losing it in the reigns of Lhachen Utpala and his successor (Wikipedia, Brokpa); so by 1200 the lower Indus is Maryul's.
Who holds it
- Name
- Not known for 1200
- Title
- King of Maryul
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
See the Maryul king record. The chronicle names no king for the twelfth century.
What it holds
- Shey and the Indus villages
- Alchi and its flat
- Nubra
- the Rupshu pastures
Wealth
Barley, apricots, wool, pashmina, caravan tolls.
Military
No army is recorded and no number is known.
Customs
Tibetan Buddhist; the Brokpa villages keep an older Dardic culture.
Tribute
Caravan tolls; unrecorded.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: A seventeenth century chronicle and inscriptions.
On the map: The real reach in 1200 is not known.
Primary sources for Guge and Maryul
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.
- The River of Kings, with Jonaraja's continuation, Kalhana; continued by Jonaraja (Kalhana 1148 to 1150; Jonaraja about 1459). Kalhana's chronicle stops in 1149, so for 1200 the witness is Jonaraja, writing three centuries later and very briefly. Read online
- 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 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
- 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.