Guge

Guge was an ancient kingdom in western Tibet. It included not only parts of the Ngari region throughout its history for certain periods of time and the present areas of Zanskar, the upper Kinnaur, Lahaul Spiti and (now under Indian control). The Ruins of Guge are located 1100 km west of Lhasa in Tibet Autonomous Region, China, several hundred kilometers south-west of Mount Kailash.

History

Guge was founded in the 11th century. Its main cities were located in Tholing and Tsaparang. Its founder was the great-grandson of Langdarma, the last king of the Yarlung Dynasty. The eldest son of this king was soon ruler of Mar - yul ( Ladakh ), and his two younger sons ruled western Tibet, founded the kingdoms of Guge and Pu - hrang. At a later time the ruler Yeshe Ö invited (ye shes ' ​​od ), a Buddhist monk, Atisha to Tibet, and ushering in the so-called phyi -dar- phase of Tibetan Buddhism.

The first Westerner who reached Guge, were the Jesuit missionaries António de Andrade and his brother in faith Manuel Marques in 1624th Perhaps as a testament to the openness of the kingdom Andrade was allowed to build a chapel in Tsaparang and to the people in the Christian doctrine instruct. From 1625 to 1629/30 António de Andrade worked as a missionary in Guge. After his departure in 1630 broke a rebellion against the ruler of Guge, Thi Tashi Dagpa from. Some reports indicate that the brother of the king, a Buddhist priest, Ladakhis called to overthrow the ruler who had converted to Christianity. The reports of the Jesuits do not support the assertion that the king had converted, however. Even before the arrival of the missionaries were tensions between Thi Tashi Dagpa and his brother, whom he had deprived of larger estates. The ruler of Ladakh besieged the fortress of Tsaparang. The brother of the king persuaded to abandon this by assuring him that the ruler of Ladakh will deduct against tribute again. In fact, King Thi Tashi Dagpa and his family but were captured and taken to the capital of Ladakh. Guge was declared then to the province of Ladakh.

Western archaeologists have gotten in the 1930s again from Guge by the work of Italian Giuseppe Tucci Tibetologists heard. Tucci's work was mainly on the frescoes of Guge.

During the Cultural Revolution, the remarkable statues were destroyed by the Chinese military that graced this building. The books by Giuseppe Tucci and Lama Anagarika Govinda Govinda and Li Gotami provide the only information about the appearance of this building before its destruction.

Monument

The establishment of the kingdom of Guge (Ch Gǔgé Wangguo yízhǐ古格王国 遗址) stands on the monument list the People's Republic of China ( 1-161 ) since 1961.

Kings of Guge

• North and South - kingdom:

• Reunification of North and South Empire under:

• Last King of kings of Guge Dynasty: Trashi dragpa ( བཀྲ་ཤིས་གྲགས་པ་ bkra grags shis pa; 17th century )