Khri ma lod

Empress Khri ma lod (or Thrimalö) was an empress consort and twice regent of Tibet. She was empress consort by marriage to emperor Mangsong Mangtsen. She was the ruler of the Tibetan empire twice: in 675-689 during the minority of her son emperor Tridu Songtsen, and in 704-712 during the minority of her grandson emperor Gyältsugru. Her title as regent was tsenmo (the female equivalent of tsenpo, the Tibetan title most frequently translated as emperor).

Khri ma lod
ཁྲི་མ་ལོད
Tsenmo
Empress regent of Tibet
Reign675 – 689 (first regency)
PredecessorMangsong Mangtsen (as emperor)
SuccessorTridu Songtsen (as emperor)
Reign704 – 712 (second regency)
PredecessorTridu Songtsen (as emperor)
SuccessorMe Agtsom (as emperor)
Died712
SpouseMangsong Mangtsen
IssueTridu Songtsen
Names
Khri ma lod
Khri ma lod
Tibetan name
Tibetan འབྲོ་ཟ་ཁྲི་མ་ལོད
Transcriptions
Wylievbro za khri ma lod
THLdro za tri ma lö

Life

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's grandson Gyältsugru (Rgyal-gtsug-ru) was born in 704 to her daughter-in-law Chimza Tsunmotog (mChims-bza' bTsan-ma Thog-thog-sten), Princess of Chim.[3] Upon the death of Tridu Songtsen that year, his elder son Lha Balpo (Lha Bal-pho) briefly succeeded him before Khri ma lod dethroned him at Pong Lag-rang in favor of the infant Gyältsugru.[2][4]

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[5] or the deposed Lha Balpo.[6]

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. Ancient Tibet: Research materials from the Yeshe De Project, pp. 238, 242. 1986. Dharma Publishing, California. ISBN 0-89800-146-3.
  4. 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. Vol. 1–2. Vienna. pp. 1–14.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. Zuiho Yamaguchi (1996). "The Fiction of King Dar-ma's persecution of Buddhism". De Dunhuang au Japon: Études chinoises et bouddhiques offertes à Michel Soymié. Geneva: Librarie Droz S.A., 232
  6. Beckwith 1983: 276.
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