![]() The scholarly achievements and political know-how of this Gelugpa Lineage eventually pushed Lhasa once more to centre stage. The three monasteries are Ganden, Sera and Drepung which were built as part of the puritanical Buddhist revival in Tibet. ![]() Two Tibetan Muslim communities have lived in Lhasa with distinct homes, food and clothing, language, education, trade and traditional herbal medicine.īy the 15th century, the city of Lhasa had risen to prominence following the founding of three large Gelugpa monasteries by Je Tsongkhapa and his disciples. Islam has been present since the 11th century in what is considered to have always been a monolithically Buddhist culture. It was known as the centre of Tibet where Padmasambhava magically pinned down the earth demoness and built the foundation of the Jokhang Temple over her heart. However, the importance of Lhasa as a religious site became increasingly significant as the centuries progressed. Shakabpa believes that "those histories reporting the arrival of Chinese troops are not correct." įrom the fall of the monarchy in the 9th century to the accession of the 5th Dalai Lama, the centre of political power in the Tibetan region was not situated in Lhasa. Lǐ suggested that this tradition may derive from an interpolation. Chinese and Tibetan scholars have noted that the event is mentioned neither in the Chinese annals nor in the Tibetan manuscripts of Dunhuang. Ī Tibetan tradition mentions that after Songtsen Gampo's death in 649 C.E., Chinese troops captured Lhasa and burnt the Red Palace. Lhasa suffered extensive damage under the reign of Langdarma in the 9th century, when the sacred sites were destroyed and desecrated and the empire fragmented. In 641 he constructed the Jokhang (or Rasa Trülnang Tsulagkhang) and Ramoche Temples in Lhasa in order to house two Buddha statues, the Akshobhya Vajra (depicting the Buddha at the age of eight) and the Jowo Sakyamuni (depicting Buddha at the age of twelve), respectively brought to his court by the princesses. Bhrikuti is said to have converted him to Buddhism, which was also the faith attributed to his second wife Wencheng. In CE 639 and 641, Songtsen Gampo, who by this time had conquered the whole Tibetan region, is said to have contracted two alliance marriages, firstly to a Princess Bhrikuti of Nepal, and then, two years later, to Princess Wencheng of the Imperial Tang court. After conquering the kingdom of Zhangzhung in the west, he moved the capital from the Chingwa Taktsé Castle in Chongye County ( pinyin: Qióngjié Xiàn), southwest of Yarlung, to Rasa (Lhasa) where in 637 he raised the first structures on the site of what is now the Potala Palace on Mount Marpori. ![]() In some old European maps, where Tibet is depicted, a town under the name Barantola can be come up with this town has mostly been suggested to be Lhasa, at other times to refer to modern Bulantai/Boluntay in the western part of the Qinghai province.īy the mid 7th century, Songtsen Gampo became the leader of the Tibetan Empire that had risen to power in the Yarlung Tsangpo River (whose lower reaches in India is known as the Brahmaputra River) Valley. Lhasa is first recorded as the name, referring to the area's temple of Jowo, in a treaty drawn up between China and Tibet in 822 C.E. The name was changed to Lhasa, which means "place of gods", upon its establishment as the capital of Tibet, and construction of the Jokhang temple was completed, which housed a holy statue of the Buddha. Ancient Tibetan documents and inscriptions demonstrate that the place was called Rasa ( ར་ས), which meant "goat's place", as it was a herding site. Chengguan literally translates to "urban gateway" ( Chinese: 城关 pinyin: Chéngguān) in the Chinese language. ![]() Lhasa literally translates to "place of gods" ( ལྷ lha, god ས sa, place) in the Tibetan language. It contains many culturally significant Tibetan Buddhist sites such as the Potala Palace, Jokhang Temple and Norbulingka Palaces. The city has been the religious and administrative capital of Tibet since the mid-17th century. Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining and, at an altitude of 3,656 metres (11,990 ft), Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world. The inner urban area of Lhasa City is equivalent to the administrative borders of Chengguan District ( simplified Chinese: 城关区 traditional Chinese: 城關區 pinyin: Chéngguān Qū), which is part of the wider prefectural Lhasa City. 'Place of Gods') is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China. Lhasa ( / ˈ l ɑː s ə/ Standard Tibetan: ལྷ་ས, lit.
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