Kingdom of Gugé

Gugé is an archeological site located in the valley of Khyunglung, in the desert of the west Tibetan to approximately 1100 km of Lhassa, not far from the mount crowned Kailash. One finds there, in particular, of the remarkable frescos Bouddhistes. It made 700 with 1630 started from a City-state, the kingdom of Gugé , which sheltered a brilliant civilization and was one of the sources of the Buddhist rebirth with the Tibet. Its territory included/understood the valleys of the Zanskar, of the higher Kinnaur, the Lahul and the Spiti, currently in Indian territory (Himachal Pradesh). Its capitals were Tholing and Tsaparang. It was rested by a grandson of the king Langdarma (803-841), last sovereign of the dynasty Yarlung of the kings Tibetans. Two of his/her brothers founded to the same Mar-yul period (the current Ladakh) and Pu-hrang. At the beginning of the 11th century, the oldest son of king de Gugé, Kor-Re or Byang-Chub Yeshe Ö, was made monk, giving up the direction of the State to his Srong-nge junior. He invited in 1040 wise the Bengali Atisha, initiating the second introduction of Buddhism to the Tibet (phyi-dar).

The first Europeans to visit Gugé were, in 1626, the missionary Jésuite Antonio del Andrade and his brother Manuel Marks, who would have seen there fertile grounds irrigated by channels. Del Andrade was authorized to open a vault with Tsaparang and to undertake preaching there. It was perhaps the beginning of the end for Gugé. Indeed, although the reasons of its disappearance were not completely cleared up, most probable is its attack by an army Ladakh I called by the Buddhist authorities, of which the brother - and principal rival - of the king, to reverse it because it had converted with his wife with the Christianisme. Indeed, about this same period, the king of Ladakh Sengge Namgyal (1616-1642) endeavoured to extend his territory to resist the Moghols and took possession of the valleys of the Zanskar and Spiti. The area fell with the unit from Ladakh under control from the Cachemire at the end of the XVIIe century.

The missions Jesuits forgotten, Gugé was redécouvert by the Western archaeological world in the Thirties thanks to forwardings of the Italian Giuseppe Tucci. One can know by his work and those of Anagarika Govinda the aspect which constructions had before the Cultural revolution, which caused destruction, in particular of statues. The site was rehabilitated starting from 1969 to allow the development of tourism.

Media

Gugé, lost kingdom of the Himalayas , Patrick Fleming, 2006, coproduction: France 5, Singapore Bang, Off The Fence, MDA, Discovery Networks Asia. Docu-infos civilization, lasted: 54 mn (card programs).

Random links: