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. |