The plain where the Nyang river meets the Tsangpo, west of the Lhasa valley, is the grain country of Tsang.
In 1200 it holds Narthang (Kadam, founded 1153), Shalu (1040 or 1087, the Chetsun family), and, at the south-west end, Sakya (1073, the Khon family), whose heads are learned laymen. Shigatse and its fortress, Tashilhunpo and the Jang princes are later. The Sakya hegemony is a thing of the 1240s and after. There is no lord of Tsang in January 1200.
Who holds it
- Title
- Lords of the Tsang plain
- Since
- not pinned
- Confidence
- low
Three houses are named: the Khon at Sakya (Drakpa Gyaltsen), the Chetsun at Shalu and the Kadam of Narthang. No lay lord of the plain is named.
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
- Sakya (Sakya, Khon family)
- Shalu (Shalu)
- Narthang (Narthang)
- The Shigatse site (Shigatse site)
Allies and rivals
No quarrel is recorded among them.
How things stand that morning
Three old houses at peace; no lord of Tsang.
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.
- 1244-1260The Sakya hegemony begins with Godan's summons (1244) and Phagpa's rise.Depends on: The Mongol conquest of the Tangut and Jin, then a Mongol choice of Tibet. Stopped by: Any change in the Mongol conquests.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: Three houses with dated foundations; the lay side not known. 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.