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'Guge' was an ancient kingdom in Western Tibet. It encompassed the present-day tracts of Zanskar, Upper Kinnaur, Lahul and Spiti (now controlled by modern day India). The ruins of Guge are located 1200 miles westwards from Lhasa within the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, not too far from Mount Kailash.
Guge was founded in the 10th century AD. Its capitals were located at Tholing and Tsaparang.^[1] Its founder was the great-grandson of Glang Darma, the last king of Tibetan kingdom of Tubo. This king's eldest son became ruler of Mar-yul (Ladakh), and his two younger sons ruled western Tibet, founding the Kingdom of Guge and Pu-hrang. At a later period the king of Guge's eldest son Kor-re, also called Byang-Chub Ye-shes 'Od, became a Buddhist monk. He was responsible for inviting Atisha to Tibet in 1040, and thus ushering in the so called Phyi-dar phase of Buddhism in Tibet. The younger son, Srong-nge, was responsible for day-to-day governmental affairs; it was his sons who continued the royal dynasty.^[2]
The first westerners to reach Guge were a Jesuit missionary António de Andrade and his brother Manuel Marques in 1626. Del Andrade reported seeing irrigation canals and rich crops in what is now a dry and desolate land.
Perhaps as evidence of the kingdom's openness, de Andrade's party was allowed to construct a chapel in Tsaparang and instruct the people about Christianity. This decision might have brought Guge to its end. Some accounts relate that the king's brother, a staunch Buddhist, called Ladakhis to overthrow the ruler, who had converted to Christianity along with his queen.
Western archeologists heard about Guge again in the 1930s through the work of Italian Giuseppe Tucci. Tucci's work was mainly about the frescoes of Guge.
During the Cultural Revolution the Chinese army destroyed the remarkable statues that graced these buildings. In 1969 the Chinese cleaned up this destruction and turned the structures into "tourist attractions." The books of Tucci and Govinda provide the only information about the appearance of these buildings before their destruction.

Contents

Rulers

References

See also

External links

Rulers

''The following shows some of the known rulers:''

★ Odsruns (842-905)

★ Dpal'Khorbtsan (905-923)

★ Skyidsde Nimamgon

★ Dpal-gyimgon Inmaryul

★ Bkrasismgon

★ Lde-btsugmgon

★ Sronne Yeses'od (circa 1035)

★ Nagaraja

★ Devaraja

★ Khore

★ Lhalde

★ Ziba-'od

★ Byan-chub'od

★ 'Odldebtsanlde

★ Bha-le

★ Bkrasislde

★ Bhare

★ Nagalde

★ Btsanphyuglde

★ Bkrasislde

★ Gragslde

★ Gragspalde

★ Aroglde

★ Ashoglde

★ Dzidarsmal

★ Anantasmal

★ Rilusmal

★ Sanghasmal

★ Dzitharsmal

★ Dzismal

★ Kalansmal

★ Parrtesmal

★ Punismal

★ Pritismal

References

1. .Snelling, John. (1990). ''The Sacred Mountain: The Complete Guide to Tibet's Mount Kailas''. 1st edition 1983. Revised and enlarged edition, including: Kailas-Manasarovar Travellers' Guide. Forwards by H.H. the Dalai Lama of Tibet and Christmas Humphreys, p. 181. East-West Publications, London and The Hague. ISBN 0-85692-173-4.
2. Hoffman, Helmut, "Early and Medieval Tibet", in Sinor, David, ed., ''Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 388, 394.


★ Allen, Charles. (1999) ''The Search for Shangri-La: A Journey into Tibetan History''. Little, Brown and Company. Reprint: 2000 Abacus Books, London. ISBN 0-349-111421.

See also

★ Xiangxiong

★ Shang Shung

External links

★ "Unravelling the mysteries of Guge" by Xiong Lei, China Daily, May 8, 2003, retrieved November 24, 2005