Taktsé Castle () was a castle located in the Chingwa () district of Chonggyä (') in central

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

. According to legend, it was home to the kings of Tibet before

Songtsen Gampo Songtsen Gampo (; 569–649? 650), also Songzan Ganbu (), was the 33rd Tibetan king and founder of the Tibetan Empire, and is traditionally credited with the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet, influenced by his Nepali consort Bhrikuti, of Nepa ...

(604–650) moved his capital to

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhasa ...

. It later became the birthplace of the Great

Fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (; ; 1617–1682) was the 5th Dalai Lama and the first Dalai Lama to wield effective temporal and spiritual power over all Tibet. He is often referred to simply as the Great Fifth, being a key religious and temporal leader ...

(1617–1682), whose aristocratic family had made their home there. Its ruins remain.

History

The power that became the Tibetan state originated at the Taktsé Castle, which, according to legend, had been built by the 9th Emperor of Tibet, Chatri Tsenpo, and thus was, of old, the centre of power of the future Tibetan monarchy. According to the

Old Tibetan Chronicle The ''Old Tibetan Chronicle'' is a collection of narrative accounts and songs relating to Tibet's Yarlung dynasty and the Tibetan Empire. The three manuscripts that comprise the only extant copies of the Chronicle are among the Dunhuang Manuscr ...

, in the early 7th century a group convinced Tagbu Nyazig (''Stag-bu snya-gzigs'') to rebel against Gudri Zingpoje (''Dgu-gri Zing-po-rje''), who was, in turn, a vassal of the

Zhangzhung Zhangzhung or Shangshung was an ancient culture and kingdom in western and northwestern Tibet, which pre-dates the culture of Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet. Zhangzhung culture is associated with the Bon religion, which has influenced the philosophie ...

empire under the Lig Myi dynasty. The group prevailed against Zingpoje. At this point,

Namri Songtsen Namri Songtsen (), also known as "Namri Löntsen" () (died 618) was according to tradition, the 32nd King of Tibet of the Yarlung Dynasty. (Reign: 570 – 618) During his 48 years of reign, he expanded his kingdom to rule the central part of the ...

(also known as Namri Löntsän) led his clan to, one by one, prevail over all his neighboring clans, using the easily defensible Taktse Castle effectively for military purposes. Before his assassination around 618, he gained control of all the area around what is now Lhasa, laying the stage for his son, Songsten Gampo, to craft the regional state that would later become known as the

Tibetan Empire The Tibetan Empire (, ; ) was an empire centered on the Tibetan Plateau, formed as a result of imperial expansion under the Yarlung dynasty heralded by its 33rd king, Songtsen Gampo, in the 7th century. The empire further expanded under the 3 ...

. The government of Namri Songtsen, centred at the castle, also sent two embassies to the Chinese

Sui Dynasty The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and la ...

in 608 and 609, marking the appearance of

on the international scene.Beckwith, Christopher I. ''The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia''. (1987), p. 17, Princeton University Press. .

References

Buildings and structures in Tibet Former castles Former buildings and structures in Tibet {{Tibet-stub