Bhrikuti
Encyclopedia
The Nepal
i Princess Bhrikuti Devi, known to Tibetans as Bal-mo-bza' Khri-btsun, Bhelsa Tritsun ('Nepali consort') or, simply, Khri bTsun ("Royal Lady"), is traditionally considered to have been the first wife of the earliest emperor of Tibet, Songtsän Gampo (605? - 650 CE), and an incarnation of Tara
. She was also known as "Besa", and was a princess of the Licchavi
kingdom of Nepal
.
Even though the historicity of Bhrikuti Devi is not certain, and no reference to her has been found among the documents discovered at Dunhuang
, "there are increasing indications supporting this hypothesis." There were certainly very close relationships between Tibet and Nepal at this period and, "Such a mythological interpretation discredits in no way the historical likelihood of such a marriage...."
Many Tibetan accounts make Bhrikuti the daughter of Amshuvarma
(605-621 CE), co-ruler and successor of Śivadeva I. If this is correct, the marriage to Songtsän Gampo must have taken place sometime before 624 CE. Acharya Kirti Tulku Lobsang Tenzin, however, states that Songsten Gampo married Bhrkuti Devi, the daughter of king "Angsu Varma" or Amshuvarma (Tib: Waser Gocha) of Nepal in 632.
According to some Tibetan legends, however, a Nepali king named Go Cha (identified by Sylvain Lévi as "Udayavarman", from the literal meaning of the Tibetan name, who was said to have a daughter called Bri-btumn or Bhṛkuti.
"Udayavarman" was, most likely the same king we know as Udayadeva (the son of Śivadeva I and, later, adopted son and heir to Aṃshuvarmā), and the father of Narendradeva (Tib: Miwang-Lha). If this is accepted, it means that Narendradeva and Bhrikuti Devi were brother and sister. Whatever the case, if the marriage did take place, it must have been sometime in the early 620s.
We do have some fairly detailed historical accounts of Narendradeva, who not only spent some time as an exile in Tibet, but was placed on the Nepalese throne with the help of the Tibetans.
The (Jiu) Tangshu, or Book of Tang
, records that when the king of 泥婆羅 Nipoluo Nepal
, the father of Licchavi
king Naling Deva (or Narendradeva), died, an uncle (Yu.sna kug.ti = Vishnagupta) usurped the throne. "The Tibetans gave him refuge and reestablished him on his throne [in 641]; that is how he became subject to Tibet."
It is not known exactly when Bhrikuti married Songtsän Gampo, but it was presumably about the time that Narendadeva fled to Tibet after his father, Udayadeva, was replaced by Dhruvadeva c. 621 CE, who, according to an inscription dated in 623, was ruling jointly with Jiṣṇugupta.
, states:
According to Tibetan traditions, Bhrikuti was a devout Buddhist and brought many sacred images and expert Newari craftsmen with her as part of her dowry. The Red Palace (Mar-po-ri Pho-drang) on Marpo Ri (Red Mountain) in Lhasa, which was later rebuilt into the thirteen storey Potala by the Fifth Dalai Lama, was constructed by Nepali craftsmen according to her wishes. She also had constructed the Tub-wang and other statues in Samye
and the famous Nepali artist Thro-wo carved the revered statue of Chenresig, Thungji Chen-po rang-jung nga-ldan. It is also called statue of Mikyo Dorje (Manuvajra) - the Ramoche Jowo or Jowo Chungpa which was housed in the Ramoche Temple in Lhasa. It seems unlikely that the statue there now is the original one brought by the Nepali princes as the temple has been sacked at least two times - first during the Mongol invasions and later it was gutted in the 1960s. It is said that the lower half of the statue was found in a Lhasa rubbish dump and the upper part found in Beijing. They have been since joined together and the statue is surrounded by the Eight Bodhisattva
s.
Songtsän Gampo and Bhrikuti built a great temple, the Tsulag Khang (or 'House of Wisdom') to house the images, which is now known as the Jokhang ('House of the Lord') in the heart of Lhasa, and is considered to be the most sacred temple in Tibet. They also built the white palace of dMar-po-ri which shifted the ancient seat of government in the Yarlung Valley to the site of modern Lhasa.
Bhrikuti is usually represented as Green Tara in Tibetan iconography
. Songtsän Gampo also married the Chinese Princess Wencheng
, who is considered to be another incarnation of Tara (White Tara), in 641 CE, and Bhrikuti and Wencheng are said to have worked together to establish temples and Buddhism in Tibet.
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
i Princess Bhrikuti Devi, known to Tibetans as Bal-mo-bza' Khri-btsun, Bhelsa Tritsun ('Nepali consort') or, simply, Khri bTsun ("Royal Lady"), is traditionally considered to have been the first wife of the earliest emperor of Tibet, Songtsän Gampo (605? - 650 CE), and an incarnation of Tara
Tara (Devi)
In Hinduism, the goddess Tara meaning "star" is the second of the Dasa Mahavidyas or "Great Wisdom [goddesses]", Tantric manifestations of Mahadevi, Kali, or Parvati...
. She was also known as "Besa", and was a princess of the Licchavi
Licchavi
Licchavi was an ancient kingdom in Nepal, which existed in the Kathmandu Valley from approximately 400 to 750. Centuries earlier, at the start of the Buddhist era a powerful republic known as Licchavi existed in what is today Bihar. There is no conclusive evidence of any ethnic or historic links...
kingdom of Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
.
Dunhuang
Dunhuang is a city in northwestern Gansu province, Western China. It was a major stop on the ancient Silk Road. It was also known at times as Shāzhōu , or 'City of Sands', a name still used today...
, "there are increasing indications supporting this hypothesis." There were certainly very close relationships between Tibet and Nepal at this period and, "Such a mythological interpretation discredits in no way the historical likelihood of such a marriage...."
Many Tibetan accounts make Bhrikuti the daughter of Amshuvarma
Amshuvarma
Aṃshuvarmā was a monarch of the Nepali kingdom of Licchavi between 605 and 621. He is credited with opening trade routes to Tibet, though he is most famous for one of his daughters, Bhrikuti, who married a Tibetan ruler named Tsrong-tsong Gompo . She was instrumental in spreading Buddhism...
(605-621 CE), co-ruler and successor of Śivadeva I. If this is correct, the marriage to Songtsän Gampo must have taken place sometime before 624 CE. Acharya Kirti Tulku Lobsang Tenzin, however, states that Songsten Gampo married Bhrkuti Devi, the daughter of king "Angsu Varma" or Amshuvarma (Tib: Waser Gocha) of Nepal in 632.
According to some Tibetan legends, however, a Nepali king named Go Cha (identified by Sylvain Lévi as "Udayavarman", from the literal meaning of the Tibetan name, who was said to have a daughter called Bri-btumn or Bhṛkuti.
"Udayavarman" was, most likely the same king we know as Udayadeva (the son of Śivadeva I and, later, adopted son and heir to Aṃshuvarmā), and the father of Narendradeva (Tib: Miwang-Lha). If this is accepted, it means that Narendradeva and Bhrikuti Devi were brother and sister. Whatever the case, if the marriage did take place, it must have been sometime in the early 620s.
We do have some fairly detailed historical accounts of Narendradeva, who not only spent some time as an exile in Tibet, but was placed on the Nepalese throne with the help of the Tibetans.
The (Jiu) Tangshu, or Book of Tang
Book of Tang
The Book of Tang , Jiu Tangshu or the Old Book of Tang is the first classic work about the Tang Dynasty. The book began when Gaozu of Later Jin ordered its commencement in 941...
, records that when the king of 泥婆羅 Nipoluo Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, the father of Licchavi
Licchavi
Licchavi was an ancient kingdom in Nepal, which existed in the Kathmandu Valley from approximately 400 to 750. Centuries earlier, at the start of the Buddhist era a powerful republic known as Licchavi existed in what is today Bihar. There is no conclusive evidence of any ethnic or historic links...
king Naling Deva (or Narendradeva), died, an uncle (Yu.sna kug.ti = Vishnagupta) usurped the throne. "The Tibetans gave him refuge and reestablished him on his throne [in 641]; that is how he became subject to Tibet."
It is not known exactly when Bhrikuti married Songtsän Gampo, but it was presumably about the time that Narendadeva fled to Tibet after his father, Udayadeva, was replaced by Dhruvadeva c. 621 CE, who, according to an inscription dated in 623, was ruling jointly with Jiṣṇugupta.
Bhrikuti in Tibet
This is considered to be the oldest copy of the famous traditional history, the dBa' bzhedTestament of Ba
The Testament of Ba is an account written in Old Tibetan of the establishment of Buddhism in Tibet and the foundation of the Samye Monastery during the reign of King Trisong Detsen The Testament of Ba (Tibetan དབའ་བཞེད or སྦ་བཞེད; Wylie transliteration: dba' bzhed or sba bzhed) is an account...
, states:
- "Then during the reign of bTsan po Khri Srong btsan, after his marriage with Khri btsun, the daughter of the king of Nepal, the temple (gtsug lag khang) of Ra sa [Lhasa] Pe har gling was built. Furthermore, the construction of the forty-two temples of the Ru bzhi was requested and the Brag lha [temple] was built. 'Thon mi gSam po ra was sent by royal order [to India] in order to get the Indian doctrine and the model of the alphabet (yi ge'i dpe). . . ."
Samye
The Samye Monastery or Samye Gompa is the first Buddhist monastery built in Tibet, was most probably first constructed between 775 and 779 CE under the patronage of King Trisong Detsen of Tibet who sought to revitalize Buddhism, which had declined since its introduction by King Songtsen Gampo in...
and the famous Nepali artist Thro-wo carved the revered statue of Chenresig, Thungji Chen-po rang-jung nga-ldan. It is also called statue of Mikyo Dorje (Manuvajra) - the Ramoche Jowo or Jowo Chungpa which was housed in the Ramoche Temple in Lhasa. It seems unlikely that the statue there now is the original one brought by the Nepali princes as the temple has been sacked at least two times - first during the Mongol invasions and later it was gutted in the 1960s. It is said that the lower half of the statue was found in a Lhasa rubbish dump and the upper part found in Beijing. They have been since joined together and the statue is surrounded by the Eight Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...
s.
Songtsän Gampo and Bhrikuti built a great temple, the Tsulag Khang (or 'House of Wisdom') to house the images, which is now known as the Jokhang ('House of the Lord') in the heart of Lhasa, and is considered to be the most sacred temple in Tibet. They also built the white palace of dMar-po-ri which shifted the ancient seat of government in the Yarlung Valley to the site of modern Lhasa.
Bhrikuti is usually represented as Green Tara in Tibetan iconography
Iconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
. Songtsän Gampo also married the Chinese Princess Wencheng
Princess Wencheng
Princess Wencheng was a niece of the powerful Emperor Taizong of China's Tang Dynasty, who left China in 640, according to records, arriving the next year in Tibet to marry the thirty-seven year old Songtsän Gampo the thirty-third king of the Yarlung Dynasty of Tibet, in a marriage of...
, who is considered to be another incarnation of Tara (White Tara), in 641 CE, and Bhrikuti and Wencheng are said to have worked together to establish temples and Buddhism in Tibet.