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History Of Tibet
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.
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