142 lojda, klimburg-salter and strinu
they also owned estates in Guge, Cogla, and Maryul (Ladakh).40 They were
also important in Purang, where a member of the Dro clan was the donor of
an inscribed pillar (see above for a discussion). Significantly, members of the
Dro clan served as governors administering the Dunhuang region during
the Tibetan rule over Eastern Central Asia.41
The protective deity Hase Pakpa (Tib. Ha se ’Phags pa), originally popular in
Dunhuang, found its way to West Tibet, where it became especially important
to king Yeshe Ö. The deity served as a witness for the king’s entourage as they
swore an oath to abide his edicts in front of a Hase Pakpa statue. Vitali tries
to establish a connection between the Dro clan and this deity. He postulated
that they brought her to West Tibet during the disintegration of the Yarlung
Empire.42
Tibetans were settled in many different parts of Central Asia, but a discus-
sion of this settlement would take us beyond the boundaries of this paper; in
any case, according to Tibetan sources, there was a particularly strong connec-
tion between Khotan and Tibet. Khotan was twice occupied by the Tibetans,
for the first time from 670 to 692 and again from 786 to 848.43 The Tibetan
Empire collapsed in 842, but the Tibetan influence in Central Asia lasted up
to the tenth century or even beyond. For example one part of Samye, the first
Tibetan monastery, was said to have been decorated in the style of Khotan
(Tib. Li yul). It is possible that Khotanese artworks or artists influenced the
Tibetan style through a variety of portable arts, like banners and painted
wooden panels. According to Khotanese legend the Buddhist tradition there
was adopted from India. Brahmanical and local Khotanese gods were inte-
40 Petech, “Western Tibet: Historical Introduction,” 231.
41 Vitali, Roberto, The Kingdoms of Gu.ge Pu.hrang according to mNga’.ris rgyal.rabs by Gu.ge
mkhan.chen Ngag.dbang grags.pa (Dharamsala: Tho.ling gtsug.lag.khang lo.gcig.stong
’khor.ba’i rjes.dran.mdzad sgo’i go.sgrig tshogs.chung, 1996), 196.
42 Vitali, The Kingdoms of Gu.ge Pu.hrang, 196–202.
43 Kossak, and Singer, Sacred Visions, 5 and Rhie, Marylin M., “Tibetan Painting Styles,
Sources, and Schools,” 45 date the beginning of the Tibetan occupation to 787, while
more recent research by Kapstein, Matthew, and Sam van Schaik, “Preface,” in Esoteric
Buddhism at Dunhuang. Rites and Teachings for This Life and Beyond, ed. Matthew
Kapstein, and Sam van Schaik (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2010), x, and Dalton, and van Schaik,
Tibetan Tantric Manuscripts from Dunhuang, 8, date the invasion of the Tibetan troops to
- The Tibetan reign ended in 848, with the local Zhang clan regaining the territory and
establishing the rule of the ‘Return-to-Allegiance Army’ (Chin. Guiyi jun 歸義軍), at least
officially swearing allegiance to the Chinese Emperor. For a discussion of this period of
local rule over Dunhuang see the chapter by Gertraud Taenzer in this volume.