Everything about Princess Wencheng totally explained
Princess Wencheng (
Tibetan: Mung-chang Kungco,
Traditional Chinese: 文成公主,
pinyin: Wénchéng Gōngzhǔ) (d.
680), was a niece of the powerful
Emperor Taizong of Tang of
Tang China, who left China in
640, according to records, arriving the next year in Tibet to marry the thirty-seven year old
Songtsän Gampo (
605?–
650 CE) the thirty-third king of the
Yarlung Dynasty of
Tibet, in a
marriage of state as part of a
peace treaty along with large quantities of gold. She is popularly known in Tibet as Gyasa. The princess was a Buddhist and, along with Songtsän Gampo's Nepalese wife,
Bhrikuti Devi, is said to have introduced Buddhism to Tibet.
The Chinese records mention receiving an envoy in
634 from Songtsän Gampo wherein the king requested to marry a Chinese princess and was refused. In
635/
636 the Tibetan king's forces attacked and defeated the
'A zha people (
Chinese: Tüyühün), who lived around Lake
Koko Nor in the northeast corner of Tibet, along an important
trade route into China. After
a campaign against China in 635–6 (
OTA l. 607) the Chinese emperor agreed to marry a Chinese princess to king Songtsän Gampo as part of the diplomatic settlement. As a marriage of state, the union must be considered a success as peace between China and Tibet prevailed for the remainder of Songtsen Gampo's reign.
The wedding's cultural importance
Myths about Songtsän Gampo and his Chinese bride Wen Cheng that appeared around them during the Middle Ages transformed Songtsän Gampo into a cultural hero for Tibetans, based on his marriages
(External Link
). It is widely believed that his
state marriages to Nepalese princess
Bhrikuti and Chinese princess Wencheng brought Buddhism to Tibet, and further, that their complicated relationship as co-wives led to the construction of the
Jokang Temple, whereupon the city of Lhasa. These stories are included in such medieval romances as the
Mani-bka'-'bum, and historiographies such as the
Rgyal-rabs Gsel-ba'i Me-long.
Changzhug monastery in
Nêdong is also connected with Wencheng: a tangka embroidered by Wencheng is kept in one of its chapels.
Further Information
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