The fullest Tibetan account of who mattered around 1200, written three centuries later from earlier biographies and lineage records, many now lost. Tibet in 1200 had no king; power lay with the great monastic houses and their lay patrons, and the Blue Annals traces each: the Kadampa seats; the Sakya under Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen (1147 to 1216) with the boy Sakya Pandita; the Kagyu founders of the previous generation (Phagmodrupa died 1170, Lama Zhang died 1193, Dusum Khyenpa the first Karmapa died 1193) and their heirs at Densatil, Tsal, Tsurphu, Drigung (Jigten Gonpo, 1143 to 1217) and Taklung (Taklung Thangpa, 1142 to 1210); the Nyingma and Shangpa lines; and the western kingdoms' religious patrons. It gives birth and death years, teachers and pupils, and the founding dates of monasteries, which are the only firm chronology for Tibet in 1200. It is religious history and says little of war, taxes or land.
About this source
- Title
- Deb ther sngon po
- Author
- Go Lotsawa Zhonnu Pal ('Gos lo tsa ba gZhon nu dpal)
- Author's dates
- 1392 to 1481
- Written
- 1476 to 1478
- Language
- Tibetan
- Covers
- the spread of Buddhist lineages in Tibet from the 7th century to the 1470s
- Kind
- History
Roerich's translation (made with Gendun Chophel) is complete but its Tibetan spellings are in an older system. The 1949 volumes are in copyright in some countries; the Internet Archive copies are library scans.
Where to read it
Editions
Translations
- George N. Roerich (tr.), The Blue Annals, 2 parts (Calcutta, Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1949 to 1953), English (in copyright; not linked) (not freely online)
- Another scan of Roerich's translation, parts 1 and 2 (Digital Library of India) (in copyright; not linked) (not freely online)