Guge (Tibetan: གུ་གེ་, Wylie: gu ge) was an ancient
kingdom in Western Tibet. The kingdom was centered in present-day
Zanda County, Ngari Prefecture,
Tibet Autonomous Region. At various
points in history after the 10th century AD, the kingdom held sway
over a vast area including south-eastern Zanskar, Upper Kinnaur
district, and Spiti Valley, either by conquest or as tributaries. The
ruins of the former capital of the
Guge kingdom are located at
Tsaparang in the
Sutlej valley, not far from
Mount Kailash and 1,200
miles (1,900 km) westwards from Lhasa.
3 See also
5 Further reading
6 External links
Guge was founded in the 10th century. Its capitals were located at
Tholing Coordinates: 31°28′55″N 79°48′01″E /
31.48194°N 79.80028°E / 31.48194; 79.80028 and Tsaparang.
Nyi ma mgon, a great-grandson of Langdarma, the last monarch of the
Tibetan Empire, left insecure conditions in
Ü-Tsang in 910. He
established a kingdom in Ngari (West Tibet) in or after 912 and
annexed Puhrang and Guge. He established his capital in Guge.
Nyi ma mgon later divided his lands into three parts. The king's
eldest son dPal gyi mgon became ruler of Mar-yul (Ladakh), his second
son bKra shis mgon received Guge-Puhrang, and the third son lDe gtsug
mgon received Zanskar. bKra shis mgon was succeeded by his son Srong
nge or Ye shes 'Od (947–1024 or (959–1036), who was a renowned
Buddhist figure. In his time a Tibetan lotsawa from
Rinchen Zangpo (958–1055), after having studied in India, returned
to his homeland as a monk to promote Buddhism. Together with the zeal
of Ye shes 'Od, this marked the beginning of a new diffusion of
Buddhist teachings in western Tibet. In 988 Ye shes 'Od took religious
vows and left kingship to his younger brother Khor re.
According to later historiography the Turkic
Karluks took the Guge
king Ye shes 'Od prisoner during a war. The episode has a prominent
place in Tibetan history writing. The
Karluks offered to set him free
if he renounced Buddhism which he refused to do. They then demanded
his weight in gold to release him. His junior kinsman Byang chub 'Od
visited him in his prison with a small retinue, but Ye shes 'Od
admonished him not to use the gold at hand for ransom, but rather to
invite the renowned
Atiśa (982-1054). Ye shes 'Od
eventually died in prison from age and poor treatment. The story is
historically debated since it contains chronological inconsistencies.
In 1037, Khor re's eldest grandson 'Od lde was killed in a conflict
Kara-Khanid Khanate from Central Asia, who subsequently
ravaged Ngari. His brother Byang chub 'Od (984–1078), a Buddhist
monk, took power as secular ruler. He was responsible for inviting
Tibet in 1040 and thus ushering in the so-called Chidar
(Phyi-dar) phase of Buddhism in Tibet. Byang chub 'Od's son rTse lde
was murdered by his nephew in 1088. This event marked the break-up of
the Guge-Purang kingdom, since one of his brothers was established as
separate king of Purang. The usurping nephew dBang lde continued the
royal dynasty in Guge.
A new Kara-Khanid invasion of
Guge took place before 1137 and cost the
life of the ruler, bKra shis rtse. Later in the same century the
kingdom was temporarily divided. In 1240 the
Mongol khagan, at least
nominally, gave authority over the Ngari area to the Drigung Monastery
Grags pa lde was an important ruler who united the
Guge area around
1265 and subjugated the related Ya rtse (Khasa) kingdom. After his
death in 1277
Guge was dominated by the
Sakya monastic regime. After
1363, with the decline of the
Yuan dynasty and their Sakya
Guge was again strengthened and took over Purang in 1378.
Purang was henceforth contested between
Guge and Mustang, but was
finally integrated in the former.
Guge also briefly ruled over Ladakh
in the late 14th century. From 1499 the
Guge king had to acknowledge
Rinpungpa rulers of Tsang. The 15th and 16th centuries were marked
by a considerable Buddhist building activity by the kings, who
frequently showed their devotion to the
Gelug leaders later known as
the Dalai Lamas.
Tsaparang, the ruins of the ancient capital of Guge
The first Westerners to reach
Guge were a Jesuit missionary, António
de Andrade, and his companion, brother Manuel Marques, in 1624. De
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. A letter by
De Andrade relates that some military commanders revolted and called
the Ladakhis to overthrow the ruler. There had been friction between
Ladakh for many years, and the invitation was heeded in 1630.
The Ladakhi forces laid siege to the almost impenetrable Tsaparang.
The King's brother, who was chief lama and thus a staunch Buddhist,
advised the pro-Christian ruler to surrender against keeping the state
as tributary ruler. This treacherous advice was eventually accepted.
Tibetan sources suggest that the
Guge population was maintained in
their old status. A legend has it that the Ladakhi army slaughtered
most of the people of Guge, about 200 of whom managed to survive and
fled to Qulong. The last king Khri bKra shis Grags pa lde was
Ladakh as prisoner with his kin, and died there. The King's
brother-lama was killed by the Ladakhis. Later on the last male
descendant of the dynasty moved to
Lhasa where he died in 1743.
Tsaparang and the
Guge kingdom were later conquered in 1679–80 by
the Lhasa-based Central Tibetan government under the leadership of the
5th Dalai Lama, driving out the Ladakhis.
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.
Lama Anagarika Govinda and Li Gotami Govinda visited
the kingdom of Guge, including Tholing, and Tsaparang, in 1947-1949.
Their tours of Central and Western
Tibet are recorded in stunning
black & white photos.
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A list of rulers of
Guge and the related Ya rtse kingdom has been
established by the Tibetologists
Luciano Petech and Roberto Vitali
A. Royal ancestors of the Tubo dynasty.
'Od srungs (in Central
Tibet 842-905) son of Glang Darma
dPal 'Khor btsan (in Central
Tibet 905-910) son
sKyid lde Nyi ma mgon (in Ngari Korsum c. 912-?) son
dPal gyi mgon (received Ladakh, 10th century) son
lDe gtsug mgon (received Zanskar, 10th century) brother
B. Kings of
Guge and Purang.
bKra shis mgon (received
Guge and Purang, fl. 947) brother
Srong nge Ye shes 'Od (?–988 or 959–1036) son
Nagaraja (religious leader, d. 1023) son
Devaraja (religious leader, d. 1026) brother
Khor re (988-996) uncle
Lha lde (996–1024) son
'Od lde btsan (1024–37) son
Byang chub 'Od (1037–57) brother
Zhi ba 'Od (religious leader, d. 1111) brother
Che chen tsha rTse lde (1057–88) son of Byang chub 'od
C. Kings of Ya rtse.
Naga lde (early 12th century)
bTsan phyug lde (mid-12th century)
bKra shis lde (12th century)
Grags btsan lde (12th century) brother of bTsan phyug lde)
Grags pa lde (Kradhicalla) (fl. 1225)
A sog lde (Ashokacalla) (fl. 1255–78) son
'Ji dar sMal (Jitarimalla) (fl. 1287–93) son
A nan sMal (Anandamalla) (late 13th century) brother
Ri'u sMal (Ripumalla) (fl. 1312–14) son
San gha sMal (Sangramamalla) (early 14th century) son
Ajitamalla (1321–28) son of Jitarimalla
Kalyanamalla (14th century)
Pratapamalla (14th century)
Pu ni sMal (Punyamalla) (fl. 1336–39) of Purang royalty
sPri ti sMal (Prthivimalla) (fl. 1354–58) son
D. Kings of Guge.
Bar lde (dBang lde) (1088-c. 1095) nephew of Che chen tsha rTse lde
bSod nams rtse (c. 1095 – early 12th century) son
bKra shis rtse (before 1137) son
Jo bo rGyal po (regent, mid-12th century) brother
rTse 'bar btsan (12th century) son of bKra shis rtse
sPyi lde btsan (12th century) son
rNam lde btsan (12th/13th century) son
Nyi ma lde (12th/13th century) son
dGe 'bum (13th century) probably an outsider
La ga (?-c. 1260) of foreign origin
Chos rgyal Grags pa (c. 1260–65)
Grags pa lde (c. 1265–77) prince from Lho stod
rNam rgyal lde (1396?–1424) son of a
Nam mkha'i dBang po Phun tshogs lde (1424–49) son
rNam ri Sang rgyas lde (1449-?) son
bLo bzang Rab brtan (?-c. 1485) son
sTod tsha 'Phags pa lha (c. 1485 – after 1499) son
Shakya 'od (early 16th century) son
Jig rten dBang phyug Pad kar lde (fl. 1537–55) son?
Ngag gi dBang phyug (16th century) son
Nam mkha dBang phyug (16th century) son
Khri Nyi ma dBang phyug (late 16th century) son
Khri Grags pa'i dBang phyug (c. 1600) son
Khri Nam rgyal Grags pa lde (fl. 1618) son
Khri bKra shis Grags pa lde (before 1622–1630) son
Kingdom conquered by
Kingdom later conquered by
Tibet under the Fifth Dalai Lama
History of Tibet
List of rulers of Tibet
^ .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.
^ Christopher I. Beckwith (16 March 2009). Empires of the Silk Road: A
History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present.
Princeton University Press. pp. 169–.
^ Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa (1967), Tibet: A political history. New Haven:
Yale University Press, pp. 56-7.
^ Hoffman, Helmut, "Early and Medieval Tibet", in Sinor, David, ed.,
Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia Cambridge: Cambridge University
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Volume II. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 53-66.
^ A. McKay, ed. (2003), pp. 42-45, 68-89.
^ L. Petech (1977), The Kingdom of Ladakh, c. 950 – 1842 A.D. Rome:
IsMEO, pp. 44-45.
^ Guge, a lost kingdom in
Tibet Archived 2012-10-21 at the Wayback
^ A. McKay, ed. (2003), p. 44.
^ Li Gotami Govinda,
Tibet in Pictures (Berkeley, Dharma Publishing,
1979), 2 volumes.
^ L. Petech (1980), 'Ya-ts'e, Gu-ge, Pu-rang: A new study', The
Central Asiatic Journal 24, pp. 85–111; R. Vitali (1996), The
kingdoms of Gu.ge Pu.hrang. Dharamsala: Tho.ling gtsug.lag.khang.
Allen, Charles. (1999) The Search for Shangri-La: A Journey into
Tibetan History. Little, Brown and Company. Reprint: 2000 Abacus
Books, London. ISBN 0-349-11142-1.
Bellezza, John Vincent: Zhang Zhung. Foundations of Civilization in
Tibet. A Historical and Ethnoarchaeological Study of the Monuments,
Rock Art, Texts, and Oral Tradition of the Ancient Tibetan Upland.
Denkschriften der phil.-hist. Klasse 368. Beitraege zur Kultur- und
Geistesgeschichte Asiens 61, Verlag der Oesterreichischen Akademie der
Wissenschaften, Wien 2008.
van Ham, Peter. (2017). Guge--Ages of Gold: The West Tibetan
Masterpieces. Hirmer Verlag, 390 pages, ISBN 978-3777426686
Zeisler, Bettina. (2010). "East of the Moon and West of the Sun?
Approaches to a Land with Many Names, North of Ancient India and South
of Khotan." In: The
Special issue. Autumn 2009 vol
XXXIV n. 3-Summer 2010 vol XXXV n. 2. "The Earth Ox Papers", edited by
Roberto Vitali, pp. 371–463.
 "Submerged in the Cosmos" by David Shulman, The New York Review of
Books, February 24, 2017, retrieved March 2, 2017.
"Unravelling the mysteries of Guge" by Xiong Lei, China Daily, May 8,
2003, retrieved November 24, 2005
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