The Tolung valley runs west of Lhasa from the Kyichu up to Tsurphu, the seat of the Karma Kagyu.
The first Karmapa Dusum Khyenpa (1110-1193) founded Tsurphu between 1187 and 1190 and died in 1193; the second Karmapa is born in 1204 in Kham. In January 1200 the valley is a farming and herding valley with a famous monastery whose head is a disciple. The valley is drawn on the modern district of Doilungdeqen. Its lay patrons are not named.
Who holds it
- Title
- Steward of Tsurphu and of the valley
- Since
- not pinned
- Confidence
- low
Drogon Rechen is the likeliest head of Tsurphu (see Tsurphu) but that rests on recollection; no source we opened names the valley's lay lords.
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
- Tsurphu (Tsurphu)
- Farms and pastures of the Tolung valley (not itemised)
Allies and rivals
Phagmodru, Taklung and Drikung are the neighbouring Kagyu houses; no quarrel with Tsurphu is recorded.
How things stand that morning
Quiet; Tsurphu without an incarnate head.
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.
Customs
Tibetan Buddhist, with Bon communities and village cults; barley, peas and butter farmers in the valleys and herders on the heights; the people on a house's or lord's estate are bound to it as serfs (mi ser). Disputes go to the lord or the lama of the nearest great house; no code or court of 1200 is described by any source we could open.
Assemblies
not described for 1200; the monks of the great houses meet as an assembly (tshogs) and the village headmen settle local matters, but no source we could open records either.
Tribute
none known; the people owe labour, grain and butter to their lord or house, but no figure or rate is 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.
- 1204Karma Pakshi, the second Karmapa, is born in Kham.Depends on: Natural birth on its date (Wikipedia, Karmapa). Stopped by: A change in his family's circumstances.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: One monastery and one valley. 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: Modern-unit polygon.
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.