The Tibetan town at the top of the Bhote Kosi gorge, the Nepali Kuti of the traders' routes and the present Nyalam (the identification is the usual one; the Wikipedia page for Nyalam County does not give the old name).
The eastern road to the Nepal valley comes up to it by Banepa, the Sun Kosi and the gorge, steeper and more exposed to landslide than the Kyirong road and shorter in miles (the campaign board). Beyond it the road goes on to Dingri and the Tsang plain. The Wikipedia page says only that the county lies on the Nepal border and that Zhangmu (Dram, Khasa) below is the entry point from Nepal.
Milarepa's cave is the site of the pilgrim stage; the date and the tradition are not checked here. No lord is named for 1200.
Who holds it
- Name
- Not known by name for 1200
- Title
- Lords and hierarchs of Kuti
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
The Nyalam County page on Wikipedia has no history before the present.
What the town holds
- the town and the gorge head
- the toll on the Nepal road
How things stand that morning
Snow and landslide close the road in winter and the monsoon; no event is dated.
Wealth
Tolls and lodging on the same goods as Kyirong.
Military
No army is recorded and no number is known.
Council
Local lords; none named.
Communities
Tibetan farmers and traders; Newar merchants; hermits and pilgrims.
Trade and crafts
Transshipment from the Nepal porters to the Tibetan caravans.
Places of note
- Kodari (the border crossing): Where the road crosses into the Nepal valley's side.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The campaign board and a Wikipedia county page that has no history.
"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 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.