Namri Songtsen (),[Stein (1972), p. 298.] also known as "Namri Löntsen" () (died 618) was according to tradition, the 32nd King of Tibet of the Yarlung dynasty. (Reign: 570 – 618) During his 48 years of reign, he expanded his kingdom to rule the central part of the Tibetan Plateau. He also had a good diplomatic partnership with other tribes and kingdoms. His actions were decisive in the setting up of the Tibetan Empire (7th century), to which he can be named co-founder with his son, Songtsen Gampo. He had reportedly conquered the Sumpa in the early 7th century.
Diplomatic relations
The Kingdom of southern Tibet, was said to have once donated 20,000 households to Namri Songtsen, to maintain its
sovereignty.
Context
Namri Songtsen was a member of the Yarlung tribe, located to the southeast of
Lhasa, in the fertile
Yarlung Valley[Kolmaš, 1967, p.5] where the Tsangpo (known in India as the Brahmaputra) supported both agriculture and human life. The
Tibetan Plateau was, at this time, a mosaic of clans of mountain shepherds with simple nomadic organizations
where intertribal fighting and razzia sorties were part of the local economy.
[Robert Brainerd Ekvall, Fields on the hoof: nexus of Tibetan nomadic pastoralism,Waveland Press, 1983 pp. 52-3.] Each clan had several chiefs. These clans had few materials and cultural exchanges due to topography, climate, and distance, so each clan, located in a specified network of valleys, had its own culture with little in common with other clans.
These "proto-Tibetans" were isolated from relations with the outside world, though some mountain groups to the east in
Sichuan,
Qinghai and the
Tuyuhun Kingdom dwelt in border areas contiguous with, or within, the Chinese empire.
[Kolmaš, 1967, p.?] Early Chinese sources appear to mention proto-Tibetan peoples in a few rare cases, if the
Qiang people and
Xirong do indeed refer to them.
[Kolmaš, 1967, p.2 : The 羌 (Qiang people) and 戎 (Xirong) appear on oracle bones as early as the 13th and 12th century BC.] This changed dramatically by the beginning of the
Tang dynasty, when the Tibetan kingdom becoming a powerful player in the military history of Eastern and Central Asia.
Several Tibetan historical accounts say that it was in Namri Songtsen's time that Tibetans obtained their first knowledge of astrology and medicine from China.[Bsod-nams-rgyal-mtshan (Sa-skya-pa Bla-ma Dam-pa), The clear mirror:
a traditional account of Tibet's golden age, tr. McComas Taylor and Lama Choedak Yuthok, Snow Lion Publications, 1996 p.90.] Others associate the introduction of these sciences with his son.[Rolf Alfred Stein, Tibetan Civilization, Stanford University Press, 1972 p. 51.] In the period, knowledge of these and other sciences came from a variety of countries, not only from China,[Jean-Claude Martzloff, A history of chinese mathematics, Springer 206 p.110.] but also from Buddhist India, Byzantium,[Dan Martin, 'Greek and Islamic Medicines' Historical Contact with Tibet: A Reassessment in View of Recently Available but Relatively Early Sources on Tibetan Medical Eclecticism in Anna Akasoy, Charles Burnett, Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim (eds.)Islam and Tibet: Interactions Along the Musk Routes, Ashgate 2011, pp.117-144, p. 128.][Christopher I. Beckwith, 'The Introduction of Greek Medicine into Tibet in the Seventh and Eighth Centuries,' in Journal of the American Oriental Society, 99:2 (1979) pp. 297-313.] and Central Asia.[Henk Blezer et al., 'Brief Outlook:Desiderata in the Study of the History of Tibetan Medicine,' in Mona Schrempf (ed.) Soundings in Tibetan medicine: anthropological and historical perspectives'', Brill, 207 pp. 427-437, p. 430 n.5.]
Upbringing and life
Around 600 CE, Namri Songtsen, one of the Yarlung tribal chieftains, became the uncontested leader of the several Yarlung clans. Using shepherd-warriors he subdued the neighbouring tribes one after another. Expanding his rule to all of modern Central Tibet, including the Lhasa region
allowed him to rule over many groups, and to begin the establishment of a centralized and strong state, with skilled troops who gained experience in their many battles in the early 7th century. This formed an important base for the later conquests by his son, which unified the whole of the Tibetan Plateau.
Furthermore, Namri Songtsen relocated the capital of his kingdom to the Gyama Valley, where he built the
Gyama Palace.
According to Beckwith, Namri Songtsen sent the first diplomatic missions to open relations with China, in 608 and 609.
[Beckwith, C. Uni. de l'Indiana Diss. 1977]
Military campaigns
Namri Songtsen was once said to have lead 10,000 soldiers to
Sumpa to conquer it , After achieving this remarkable feat, Namri Songtsen granted the influential nobles of sumpa; various territories and slaves to gain their immediate loyalty. Subsequently the Yarlung Dynasty became the largest power in the
Tibetan Plateau, and by integrating central and southern Tibet into one, it achieved the effects of population increase, economic development, and military strength, and finally transformed from a tribal state into an imperial one.
Assassination and succession
Namri Songtsen was assassinated by poisoning in 618 or 629/630, by a coup d'état which eventually failed, being crushed by Namri Songtsen's son, who developed his heritage, completing the submission of the
Tibetan Plateau, and, according to later histories, introduced a unified legal code, a Tibetan writing system, an archive for official records, an army, and relations with the outside world.
See also
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Pre-Imperial Tibet
-
History of Tibet
-
List of emperors of Tibet
Notes
Sources
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Josef Kolmaš, Tibet and Imperial China, A Survey of Sino-Tibetan Relations up to the End of the Madchu Dynasty in 1912. Occasional paper No. 7, The Australian National University, Centre of Oriental Studies, Canberra, 1967. Page 7-11/67. ( lire en ligne, appuyer sur F11 pour l'affichage plein écran)
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Stein, R. A. (1972). Tibetan Civilization. Faber and Faber, London; Stanford University Press, Stanford, California. (cloth); .
