Karma Tseten

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Karma Tseten (Tibetan: ཀརྨ་ཚེ་བརྟན, Wylie: karma tshe-brtan; Chinese: 辛廈巴·才旦多吉) (died 1599), also known as Zhingshak Tseten Dorje (Tibetan: ཞིངཥག་ཚེ་བརྟན་རྡོ་རྗེ, Wylie: zhing-shag tshe-brtan rdo-rje) was a king of Upper Tsang in West Central Tibet. He was the founder of the Tsangpa Dynasty, that had an important role in the history of Tibet from 1565 to 1642. Karma ruled during the period 1565–1599.

Rebelling against the Rinpungpa

Karma Tseten, in full Karma Tseten Dorje, belonged to a clan from Nyag which claimed descent from Jñanakumara, a disciple of the eighth-century tantric master

Drukpa lama Kunkhyen Pema Karpo was able to mediate between the warring parties. However, just after the Tibetan new year in 1566, fresh fighting broke out in lower Nyangtö. The Drukpa lama intervened again. Karma Tseten requested all the lands above Jomo Kharek (a mountain at the border between Ü and Tsang), but was finally content with the entire Panam area.[7]
With these events the Rinpungpa faded into insignificance.

Political and religious program

After 1565-66 Karma Tseten, who was also known as Zhingshagpa, declared himself Tsangtö Gyalpo, King of Upper Tsang.

Ming Dynasty of China.[12]

King of Upper Tsang

Karma Tseten's dynastic regime became known as the Tsangpa, after the Tsang region.

Mustang, Dolpo in Nepal, Mount Kailash, Latö, and Chang. The partial failure of the Mongol raids was attributed to the powerful exorcism of Sogdogpa.[18]

Family and demise

Karma Tseten had nine sons, of which the most prominent were Karma Thutob Namgyal, Khunpang Lhawang Dorje and Karma Tensung.[19] Of these, Khunpang Lhawang Dorje intervened in a local feud where two brothers of the Changdakpa line quarreled, and favoured the elder brother. Karma Tseten forced the younger brother Tashi Tobgyal (1550?-1603) in exile to Ü. The vengeful Tashi Tobgyal performed tantric rites, with the supposed result that Karma Tseten died from "the sharp pain from Vishnu's sword".[20] The year of his demise is given differently in the literature, but according to the near-contemporary text Sogdog gyi tsulgyi logyu he died in 1599.[21] The details of his succession are likewise unclear; his sons Khunpang Lhawang Dorje and Karma Thutob Namgyal are mentioned as rulers in 1582 and 1586 respectively. The next important Tsangpa king was Karma Tensung who seems to have taken over the throne in 1599.

References

  1. ^ Giuseppe Tucci, Tibetan Painted Scrolls, Rome 1949, Vol. II, p. 697.
  2. Pagsam Wangpo, Karma Tseten's grandson Karma Phuntsok Namgyal was a "nephew" of the penultimate Rinpungpa ruler Dondup Tseten Dorje
    ; see Olaf Czaja, Medieval rule in Tibet. Wien 2013, Vol. I, p. 493.
  3. Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa
    , One Hundred Thousand Moons, Leiden 2010, p. 280.
  4. Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa
    , Tibet. A Political History, New Haven & London 1967, p. 89.
  5. Fifth Dalai Lama
    , The history of Tibet. Bloomington 1995, p. 192.
  6. ^ Olaf Czaja, 2013, p. 279.
  7. ^ Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa, 2010, p. 281.
  8. ^ Sarat Chandra Das, 'Tibet under her Last Kings (1434-1642 A.D.)', Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 1:6 1905 p. 166.
  9. ^ Benjamin Bogin, 'The Red and Yellow war: Dispatches from the field', in Benjamin Bogin & Andrew Quintman (eds), Himalayan passages: Tibetan and Newar studies in honor of Hubert Decleer. Boston 2014, p. 330.
  10. ^ David Templeman, 'The 17th cent. gTsang rulers and their strategies of legitimation', 2013, p. 73 [1]
  11. ^ David Templeman, 2013, pp. 67-9.
  12. ^ Hugh Richardson, Tibet & its history, Boston & London 1984, p. 38.
  13. ^ The Tsangpa rulers are variously known as desi (regents), depa (regional lords), gyalpo (kings), or maharajas. Later sources by Gelugpa historians, hostile to the Tsangpa, avoided giving them royal titles in their works; see Navina Lamminger, Der Sechste Zhva dmar pa Chos kyi dbang phyug (1584–1630) und sein Reisebericht aus den Jahren 1629/1630: Studie, Edition und Übersetzung. PhD Thesis, Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität, 2013, p. 12. [2]
  14. ^ Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa, 1967, p. 89.
  15. ^ Karl-Heinz Everding & Dawa Dargyay Dzongphugpa, Das tibetische Fürstentum La stod lHo (um 1265-1642), Wiesbaden 2006, p. 112.
  16. ^ Olaf Czaja, 2013, p. 291.
  17. ^ James Gentry, Substance and sense: Objects of power in the life, writings, and legacy of the Tibetan ritual master Sog bzlog pa Blo gros rgyal mtshan, PhD Thesis, Harvard University 2013, p. 181. [3]
  18. ^ James Gentry, 'Representations of efficacy: The ritual expulsion of Mongol armies in the consolidation and expansion of the Tsang (Gtsang) Dynasty', in José Ignacio Cabezón (ed.), Tibetan ritual. Oxford 2010, pp. 141-2.
  19. ^ Giuseppe Tucci, 1949, Vol. II, p. 697.
  20. ^ Tsepon W.D. Shakabpa, 2010, pp. 281-82.
  21. ^ James Gentry, 2013, p. 138. Benjamin Bogin, 2014, p. 325, also mentions 1599 as the date of his death. His regnal dates are given as 1565-1588 by a Chinese site, http://www.huisongshu.com/ming.htm . The same site says that he was succeeded by his sons Khunpang Lhawang Dorje 1588-1608, and Karma Tensung 1588-1611.
Preceded by Ruler of Tsang
1565–1599 		Succeeded by
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