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Zhang Zhung
Zhangzhung or Shangshung was an ancient culture and kingdom in western and northwestern Tibet, which pre-dates the culture of Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet. Zhangzhung culture is associated with the Bon religion, which has influenced the philosophies and practices of Tibetan Buddhism. Zhangzhung people are mentioned frequently in ancient Tibetan texts as the original rulers of today's western Tibet. Only in the last two decades have archaeologists been given access to do archaeological work in the areas once ruled by the Zhangzhung. Extent of the Zhangzhung kingdoms Tradition has it that Zhangzhung consisted "of three different regions: sGob-ba, the outer; Phug-pa, the inner; and Bar-ba, the middle. The outer is what we might call Western Tibet, from Gilgit in the west to Dangs-ra khyung-rdzong in the east, next to lake gNam-mtsho, and from Khotan in the north to Chu-mig brgyad-cu rtsa-gnyis in the south. Ladakh, including lahaul and spiti, was part of sGob-ba. The inner region is sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alchon Huns
The Alchon Huns, ( Bactrian: αλχον(ν)ο ''Alchon(n)o'') also known as the Alchono, Alxon, Alkhon, Alkhan, Alakhana and Walxon, were a nomadic people who established states in Central Asia and South Asia during the 4th and 6th centuries CE. They were first mentioned as being located in Paropamisus, and later expanded south-east, into the Punjab and central India, as far as Eran and Kausambi. The Alchon invasion of the Indian subcontinent eradicated the Kidarite Huns who had preceded them by about a century, and contributed to the fall of the Gupta Empire, in a sense bringing an end to Classical India. The invasion of India by the Huna peoples follows invasions of the subcontinent in the preceding centuries by the Yavana (Indo-Greeks), the Saka (Indo-Scythians), the Palava (Indo-Parthians), and the Kushana (Yuezhi). The Alchon Empire was the third of four major Huna states established in Central and South Asia. The Alchon were preceded by the Kidarites and succeeded by the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gilgit
Gilgit (; Shina: ; ur, ) is the capital city of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan. The city is located in a broad valley near the confluence of the Gilgit River and the Hunza River. It is a major tourist destination in Pakistan, serving as a hub for trekking and mountaineering expeditions in the Karakoram mountain range. Gilgit was once a major centre for Buddhism; it was an important stop on the ancient Silk Road, and today serves as a major junction along the Karakoram Highway with road connections to China as well as the Pakistani cities of Skardu, Chitral, Peshawar, and Islamabad. Currently, it serves as a frontier station for the local tribal areas. The city's economic activity is mainly focused on agriculture, with wheat, maize, and barley as the mainly-produced crops. Etymology The city's ancient name was ''Sargin'', later to be known as ''Gilit'', and it is still referred to as ''Gilit'' or ''Sargin-Gilit'' by the local people. The native Khowar and Wakhi-speaking ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trisong Detsen
Tri Songdetsen () was the son of Me Agtsom, the 38th emperor of Tibet. He ruled from AD 755 until 797 or 804. Tri Songdetsen was the second of the Three Dharma Kings of Tibet, playing a pivotal role in the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet and the establishment of the Nyingma or "Ancient" school of Tibetan Buddhism. The empire Tri Songdetsen inherited had declined somewhat from its greatest extent under the first Dharma King, Songtsen Gampo. Disintegration continued when, in 694, Tibet lost control of several cities in Turkestan and, in 703, Nepal broke into rebellion. Meanwhile, Arab forces vied for influence along the western borderlands of the Tibetan empire. Nevertheless, Tri Songdetsen became imperial Tibet's greatest ruler and an unparalleled Buddhist benefactor. Tri Songdetsen and his support for Buddhism Tri Songdetsen is very important to the history of Tibetan Buddhism as one of the three 'Dharma Kings' (Tibetan:''chögyel'') who established Buddhism in Tibet. The Thre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tibetan Empire Greatest Extent 780s-790s CE
Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dialect ** Tibetan pinyin, a method of writing Standard Tibetan in Latin script ** Tibetan script ** any other of the Tibetic languages Tibetan may additionally refer to: Culture * Old Tibetan, an era of Tibetan history * Tibetan art * Music of Tibet * Tibetan rug * Tibetan culture * Tibetan cuisine Religion * Tibetan Buddhism * Tibetan Muslims Other uses * Tibetan alphabet * Tibetan (Unicode block) * Tibetan name * Tibetan calendar * Tibetan Spaniel, a breed of dog * Tibetan Mastiff, a breed of dog See also * Tibetan Bells (other) * Traditional Tibetan medicine * Tibetan language (other) Tibetan language may refer to: * Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard * Lhasa Tibe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chang Tang
The Changtang (alternatively spelled Changthang or Qangtang) is a part of the high altitude Tibetan Plateau in western and northern Tibet extending into the southern edges of Xinjiang as well as southeastern Ladakh, India, with vast highlands and giant lakes. From eastern Ladakh, the Changtang stretches approximately east into Tibet as far as modern Qinghai. The Changtang is home to the Changpa, a nomadic Tibetan people. The two largest settlements within the Tibetan Changtang are Rutog Town the seat of Rutog County and Domar Township the seat of Shuanghu County. Climate The summers are warm but short and thunderstorms can occur at any time of year, often with hail. The winters are cold and Arctic-like, despite the latitude, due to the high elevation. History Changtang was once ruled by a culture known as the Zhangzhung, which later merged with Tibetan culture. People The people of the Changtang are nomadic pastoralists, they are known as 'Changpa', for 'northerners,' or 'Dro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lake Manasarovar
Lake Manasarovar (Sanskrit: मानसरोवर), also called Mapam Yutso (;) locally, is a high altitude freshwater lake fed by the Kailash Glaciers near Mount Kailash in Burang County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, China. The lake along with Mount Kailash to its north are sacred sites in four religions: Bön, Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. Etymology The Sanskrit word "''Manasarovar''" (मानसरोवर) is a combination of two Sanskrit words; "''Mānas''" (मानस्) meaning "mind (in its widest sense as applied to all the mental powers), intellect, intelligence, understanding, perception, sense, conscience''" while "''sarovara''" (सरोवर) means "''a lake or a large pond deep enough for a lotus''". Geography It is located about 50 kilometers to the northwest of Nepal, about 100 kilometers east of Uttarakhand, and in the southwest region of Tibet. The lake lies at above mean sea level, a relatively high elevation for a large freshw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rolf Alfred Stein
Rolf Alfred Stein (13 June 1911 – 9 October 1999) was a German-born French Sinologist and Tibetologist. He contributed in particular to the study of the ''Epic of King Gesar'', on which he wrote two books, and the use of Chinese sources in Tibetan history. He was the first scholar to correctly identify the ''Minyag'' of Tibetan sources with the Xixia of Chinese sources. Early life Stein was born in Schwetz (now Świecie, Poland) to a family of Jewish origin in 1911. As a young man, Stein became interested in the occult, and it was from there that his interest in Tibet began. He received his first degree in Chinese from the ''Seminar für Orientalische Sprachen'' at the University of Berlin in 1933. He fled to France the same year. He obtained degrees from l'École nationale des langues orientales vivantes in Chinese (1934) and Japanese (1936). In Paris he studied Tibetan with Jacques Bacot and Marcelle Lalou. He became a French citizen on 30 August 1939. Stein spent the Second W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Allen (writer)
Charles Robin Allen (2 January 1940 – 16 August 2020) was a British freelance writer and popular historian from London. His British parents were both born in India and his numerous works focus on the British Raj. Biography Charles Allen was born in Kanpur, India, where six generations of his family served under the British Raj. His father was a political officer on the North East Frontier. When Allen was four years old his father, Geoffrey St G.T. Allen was appointed Assistant Political Officer on the Balipara Frontier Tract in Assam, India. For several years the family lived at Sadiay, on the banks of the Brahmaputra River. It was here that Allen met the various tribesmen, mostly Abor and Mishmi warriors, that came down from the hills. Later when Allen had returned to England he heard about the exploits of his great grandfather, Colonel St G. C. Gore, Surveyor-General of India from 1899 to 1904, who had spent a lot of time in the Himalayas. Allen also met Colonel Kenneth Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sutlej Valley
The Sutlej or Satluj River () is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as ''Satadru''. It is the easternmost tributary of the Indus River. The Bhakra Dam is built around the river Sutlej to provide irrigation and other facilities to the states of Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana. The waters of the Sutlej are allocated to India under the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan, and are mostly diverted to irrigation canals in India like the Sirhind Canal, Bhakra Main Line and the Rajasthan canal. The mean annual flow is 14 million acre feet (MAF) upstream of Ropar barrage, downstream of the Bhakra dam. It has several major hydroelectric points, including the 1,325 MW Bhakra Dam, the 1,000 MW Karcham Wangtoo Hydroelectric Plant, and the 1,500 MW Nathpa Jhakri Dam. The drainage basin in India includes the states and union territories of Himachal Pra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Kailash
Mount Kailash (also Kailasa; ''Kangrinboqê'' or ''Gang Rinpoche''; Standard Tibetan, Tibetan: གངས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ; ; sa, कैलास, ), is a mountain in the Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It has an altitude of . It lies in the Gangdise Shan, Kailash Range (Gangdisê Mountains) of the Transhimalaya, in the western part of the Tibetan Plateau. Mount Kailash is less than 100 km towards the north from the western trijunction of the borders of China, India, and Nepal. Mount Kailash is located close to Lake Manasarovar and Lake Rakshastal. The sources of four major Asian rivers lie close to this mountain and the two lakes. These rivers are the Indus River, Indus, the Sutlej, the Brahmaputra River, Brahmaputra, and the Karnali River, Karnali (a tributary of the Ganges). Mount Kailash is considered sacred in four religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Bon. Etymology The mountain is known as “'” (; var. ' ) in Sanskrit. The nam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garuda
Garuda (Sanskrit: ; Pāli: ; Vedic Sanskrit: गरुळ Garuḷa) is a Hindu demigod and divine creature mentioned in the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain faiths. He is primarily depicted as the mount (''vahana'') of the Hindu god Vishnu. Garuda is also the half-brother of the Devas, Daityas, Danavas and Yakshas. He is the son of the sage Kashyapa and Vinata. He is the younger brother of Aruna, the charioteer of the Sun. Garuda is mentioned in several other texts such as the Puranas and the Vedas. Garuda is described as the king of the birds and a kite-like figure. He is shown either in a zoomorphic form (a giant bird with partially open wings) or an anthropomorphic form (a man with wings and some ornithic features). Garuda is generally portrayed as a protector with the power to swiftly travel anywhere, ever vigilant and an enemy of every serpent. He is also known as Tarkshya and Vainateya. Garuda is a part of state insignia of India, Indonesia and Thailand. The Indonesian official ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khyunglung
Kyunglung (also Khyunglung, Qulong or Qulongcun) is a village in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Kyunglung Ngüka (, ) "Silver Palace of Garuda Valley", located southwest of Mount Kailash (), identified with palaces found in the upper Sutlej Valley, was the capital city of the ancient kingdom of Zhangzhung. Many Tibetologists and theorists suggest that Kyunglung may be what the Zhangzhung people called Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring. However, some ancient Bonpo scriptures refer to today's Tajikistan, as the Shangshung word "Tag-Zig" refers to today's "Ta-jik", and "-istan" is the Persian word applied after Islamic rule. As time of 7th century Tibetan king Songsten Gampo, today's Tajik was under Tibetan rule. The Shamgshung emperor was beheaded when he went to war in Amdo (a region of Tibet corresponding roughly to Qinghai province). Tajik was part of Shangshung history as the buddha of Bon tradition is believed to have come from there. Ruins Khyunglung is a complex of caves set in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
