Khri ma lod

Empress Khri ma lod (or Thrimalö) was an unofficial co-ruler of the Tibetan empire, 675-689 and 704-712 CE. Her title was tsenmo (the female equivalent of tsenpo, the Tibetan title most frequently translated as emperor).

Khri ma lod
Tsenmo
Empress regent of Tibet
Reign675 - 689 AD and 704 - 712 AD
PredecessorMangsong Mangtsen (first rule) Tridu Songtsen (second rule)
SuccessorTridu Songtsen (first rule) Me Agtsom (second rule)
Died712
SpouseMangsong Mangtsen
IssueTridu Songtsen
Full name
Khri ma lod
Tibetanའབྲོ་ཟ་ཁྲི་མ་ལོད
Khri ma lod
Tibetan name
Tibetan འབྲོ་ཟ་ཁྲི་མ་ལོད

Khri ma lod was married to emperor Mangsong Mangtsen (Trimang Löntsen' or Khri-mang-slon-rtsan). The emperor died in the winter of 676-677, and in the same year she gave birth to the emperor's son Tridu Songtsen (Khri 'dus-srong btsan or Khri-'dus-srong-rtsan).[1]

The Zhangzhung revolted early in her son's reign. She shared power with the Gar (Mgar) clan. When her son Tridu campaigned in the northeast 700-4 CE, she resumed her administrative regency at home.[2]

Khri ma lod gave birth to Gyältsugru (Rgyal-gtsug-ru) in 704. Upon the death of Tridu Songtsen that year, Khri ma lod ruled as regent again for his half-brother.[2] The following year the elder son of Tridu Songtsen, Lha Balpo (Lha Bal-pho) apparently contested the succession of his one-year-old brother, but was "deposed from the throne" at Pong Lag-rang.[2][3]

Khri ma lod had arranged for a royal marriage of Gyältsugru to a Chinese princess. The Princess Jincheng (金城公主, Tibetan: Kyimshang Kongjo) arrived in 710, but it is somewhat unclear whether she married the seven-year-old Gyältsugru[4] or the deposed Lha Balpo.[5]

Khri ma lod died in 712. Gyältsugru was then officially enthroned with the royal name Tride Tsuktsän.[2] Khri ma lod remains the only woman in Tibetan history to rule Tibet.

References
  1. Beckwith, Christopher I. (1987). The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-02469-3. pp. 14, 48, 50.
  2. Petech, Luciano (1988). "The Succession to the Tibetan Throne in 704-5". Orientalia Iosephi Tucci Memoriae Dicata, Serie Orientale Roma. 41 (3): 1080–1087.
  3. Beckwith, C. I. (1983). "The Revolt of 755 in Tibet". In Ernst Steinkellner and Helmut Tauscher (ed.). Weiner Studien zur Tibetologie und Buddhismuskunde, Nos. 10-11, Proceedings of the Csoma de Kőrös Symposium Held at Velm-Vienna, Austria, 13–19 September 1981. 1–2. Vienna. pp. 1–14.
  4. Zuiho Yamaguchi (1996). "The Fiction of King Dar-ma's persecution of Buddhism". De Dunhuang au Japon: Etudes chinoises et bouddhiques offertes à Michel Soymié. Geneva: Librarie Droz S.A., 232
  5. Beckwith 1983: 276.
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