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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
divided into four period:
1. 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 reliable 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 Gamoi was an
outstanding ruler, 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
Pricess Bhrikuti Debi of Nepal, built the Potala
and the temple and the temple of Jokhang
2. 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.
3. 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 whten 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.
4. 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. |
