Tibetan
history can be traced thousands of years back. However,
the written history only dates back to the 7th century when
Songtsan Gampo, the 33rd Tibetan king, sent his minister
Sambhota to India to study Sanskrit who on his return invented
the present Tibetan script based on Sanskrit.
Tibet's
history can be diveded into four period
The
Tsanpo's Period
This
period starts from Nyatri Tsanpo, the first of the Tsanpos,
in 127 B.C(historians differ in view of the date, but this
date is taken from the White Annales, a reliabl book on
Tibetan history) and ends in 842 A.D. at the death of Lang
Dharma, the last of the Tsanpos, who was assassinated by
a buddhist monk owing to Lang Dharma's ruthless persecution
of Buddhism. During this period some 42 Tsanpos had ruled
over Tibet among which Songtsan Gampo's rule was considered
as the zenith. Songtsan Gampo was an outstandingruler, he
unified Tibet, changed his capital to Lhasa, sent Sambhota
to India to study Sanskrit and promulaged a script for the
Tibetan on the latter's arrival to Tibet, married Princess
Wencheng of the Tang Court and Princess Bhrikuti Debi of
Nepal, built the Potala and the temple and the temple of
Jokhang
The
period of Decentrailzation
This
period began in 842 A.D. the year of Lang Dharma's assassination,
and ended in about 1260 A.D, when Pagpa, the Abbot of Sakya
monastery, became a vassal of Kublai Khan, the first Emperor
of the Yuan Dynasty. During this period a little is known
in history except that Tibet became decentralized into a
number of petty principalities.
The
period of Sakya, Pagdu, and Karmapa's Rule
This
period began with Sakya's rule over Tibet, followed first
by Pagdu's rule in Lhaoka and then by Karmara's rule in
the Tsang region (Shigatse). The Sakya period was the time
when Tbiet officially became an inseparable part of China.
This period lasted from 1260 A.D to 1642 A.D during which
political powers centered in the three regions of Sakya,
Pagdu, and Tsang successively ruled over Tibet.
The
period of the Gandan Podrang's Administration
This
period is the period in which the Dalai Lama ruled Tibet.
It started in 1642 A.D. when the 5th Dalai Lama overtook
the ruling power from the Tsang ruler. It basically ended
in 1951 when Tibet was liberated and came to a complete
end in 1959 when rebellion led by the Dalai Lama was pacified
and the People's Government of the Tibet, Autonomous Region
was set up. |
