King of Guge

Who he is

Name

Not known for 1 January 1200. Vitali's list gives rTse 'bar btsan, sPyi lde btsan, rNam lde btsan and Nyi ma lde for the twelfth and early thirteenth century, order uncertain.

Title

King (rgyal po) of Guge

Since

not pinned

Born

not known

Family

The royal line of Guge, descended from Trashigon and Yeshe-O (947-1024 or 959-1036, the dates disputed): Khor re (988-996), Lha lde (996-1024), 'Od lde btsan (1024-1037, killed in a Karakhanid conflict), Byang chub 'od (1037-1057; invited Atisha in 1040), rTse lde (1057-1088, murdered by his nephew), Bar lde or dBang lde (1088-c. 1095), bSod nams rtse (c. 1095 to early twelfth century), bKra shis rtse (before 1137, died in a later Karakhanid raid), Jo bo rGyal po (regent, mid twelfth century).

Confidence

low

Wikipedia's Guge page (after Vitali, The Kingdoms of Gu.ge Pu.hrang). The later kings are dGe 'bum (thirteenth century, 'probably an outsider'), La ga (d. c. 1260), Chos rgyal Grags pa (c. 1260-1265) and Grags pa lde (c. 1265-1277); all are after 1200.

What it holds

• Tholing and its monastery
• Tsaparang
• the upper Sutlej valley (Zanda)
• the royal and noble estates round them

How it was acquired

By descent from Yeshe-O, with the division of 1088.

Allies and rivals

The branch kings of Purang; Maryul; the Khasa kings on the south; Karakhanid raiders from the north in the eleventh and twelfth centuries; Kashmir through the Zoji La and Spiti roads.

How things stand that morning

A small royal court on the Sutlej, with temples richer than its treasury; no war or truce is dated for the winter.

Wealth

Pasture and barley in the Sutlej gorge country, wool, salt and borax, tolls on the roads to Kashmir and Kumaon, the patronage endowment of the temples.

Military

No army is recorded and no number is known.

Threats

• feuds of the royal kinsmen (rTse lde was murdered by his own nephew in 1088)
• raiders from the Tarim
• Drikung and other Tibetan hierarchs, who spread into Ngari

Places of note

• Tholing: Monastery founded 996 or 997.
• Tsaparang: Fortress town, capital in later sources.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Vitali's list is the best there is; the twelfth century order is unsettled and the king of 1200 is not named.

On the map: The Guge ground is the Sutlej valley round Tholing; its northern and eastern reach is not pinned.

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