Key Events

• ca. 500 B.C.–600 A.D.

  The Monpa, a fierce mountain tribe, are thought by some scholars to inhabit the Lho Mon or Monyul state in the southern lowlands of Bhutan.

• ca. 400–750

  The first Nepali state, ruled by the Licchavi family, marks a golden age of the culture. Close ties are maintained with the Guptas in India, whose aesthetics and literary language are reflected in Nepali art. Buddhism and Hinduism flourish in this period.

• ca. 570–620

  The tribal chief Namri Songzen first attempts to unify Tibet.

• ca. 600–700

  The Kathmandu Valley/Nepal is known as an exporter of fine copper. A Chinese visitor mentions impressive metalwork, but examples are no longer extant.

• ca. 620–649

  Songzen Gampo, Namri Songzen’s son, unifies Tibet under the Yarlung dynasty, beginning a period of expansion into China and Central Asia. He conquers Nepal to the west, Kamarupa to the south, and various tribes along China’s border, and establishes a capital at Lhasa. His marriages to a Nepali princess, fleeing a coup d’etat in 625, and a Tang princess to cement ties to China, seem to have fostered his adoption of Buddhism as a national religion. Songzen Gampo also marries three high-ranking Tibetan women to further consolidate his empire.

• ca. 630–640

  Songzen Gampo orders the construction of two Buddhist temples in Bhutan, introducing Buddhism to the country.

• ca. 723

  The city of Kathmandu is founded.

• ca. 750–797

  Khri-srong-Ide-btsan’s reign is characterized by the active patronage of Buddhism and contact of Tibetan artists with Central Asian painting traditions, particularly at Khotan and Dunhuang.

• ca. 750–1200

  Nepal is ruled by several aristocratic families during the Thakuri or Transitional period.

• ca. 760–800

  Famous Indian mystics such as Santarakshita and Padmasambhava visit Tibet.

• ca. 763

  Tibetan armies seize the Chinese capital at Chang’an. During this period of Tibetan power, Tang China pays tribute to Tibet.

• ca. 779

  The first Buddhist monastery in Tibet is founded at Samye.

• 822

  A peace treaty with Tang China marks the high point of the Tibetan empire’s power.

• ca. 842–850

  With the assassination of ruler Langdarma, the Tibetan empire begins to fragment, the royal dynasty collapses, and Buddhism declines.

• ca. 950

  Buddhism begins a resurgence in central Tibet, and Tibetans journey to India and Nepal in search of texts and teachings.