308 karénina kollmar-paulenz
- The Origins of the Yar-lung Dynasty
Our knowledge about Tibet in the centuries preceding the formation
of the Yar-lung dynasty is extremely scarce, due to the lack of sources
apart from mythological narratives. We can, however, deduct from
later political and social developments that the distinguishing factor
of early Tibet was a general lack of centralised political power. Early
political organisation consisted of small-scale socio-economic com-
munities occupying a clearly delineated territory that had its centre in
one distinguishing feature of the landscape, usually a mountain. The
ruling clans grounded their historico-cultural and religious identity in
these mythical centres of their communities. Gradually the small-scale
communities were united into greater units, ruled by more powerful or
charismatic leaders. Around 600 AD the local rulers of the Yar-lung
valley, on the south side of the gTsang-po river in Central Tibet, began
to play a more dominant role in the game for power and succeeded
in gaining control over most of Central Tibet in the rst decades of
the seventh century. They were, however, not the only petty chieftains
striving for political power. In all probability a greater political unity,
the kingdom of Zhang-zhung, located in the region which is nowadays
Western Tibet, already played an important role in local political power
formations. Zhang-zhung had a distinct culture and probably language.
In later historical accounts it played an important, if not contested,
role as an adversary of Buddhism, being closely connected to the Bon
religion of Tibet.
The rulers of the Yar-lung valley slowly gained supremacy over the
chiefs of the gTsang-po river valley and extended their power over the
people living on the fringes of the valley and beyond. gNam-ri-long-
btsan or gNam-ri-srong-btsan, as he was also called, was elevated to be
the leader of an alliance of local rulers at the beginning of the seventh
century. The local chieftains who submitted to him later became the
nobility in the newly founded kingdom of the Yar-lung dynasty. They
formed shifting and politically unstable alliances with the Tibetan kings
and served under them as “great ministers” (blon-chen) or obtained the
position of “maternal uncle” (zhang) through marital ties with the rul-
ing clan.
Apart from these glimpses of early Tibetan history, the beginnings
of the Tibetan ascension to power is told in various myths relating to
the divine origin of its early kings. According to the rGyal-rabs-gsal-