The high cold plateau east of the Indus where the goats grow the fine undercoat that becomes pashmina, at over 4,500 m and grazed by herders who move with the season (the campaign board).
Nobody garrisons it and nobody farms it. Its wool, with Tibetan salt and borax, is what comes west over the Zoji La and pays for Kashmiri grain going east.
Who holds it
- Name
- Not known by name
- Title
- Nomad headmen under Maryul
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
The campaign board: nobody garrisons or farms it.
What it holds
- the pastures and the herding camps
- the salt and borax lakes (the road, not the title)
How things stand that morning
Pasture, not a holding; the herds move with the season.
Wealth
Pashmina wool, salt, borax.
Military
No army is recorded and no number is known.
Customs
Nomadic herding by the Changpa (a later name).
Tribute
Wool and salt to whoever the headmen answer to; not recorded.
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry the-changthang-pastures gives 'The Loharas of Kashmir' as the power. That label is wrong for this place: Kashmir ends at the Zoji La, and the Rupshu and Changthang pastures are Tibetan herders' ground, listed under Maryul in this record and not under Kashmir (see the Guge record, first note, for the six board places).
Evidence: The campaign board and geography; no document.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: Approximate.
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.