page_title: Bhrikuti
section_title: Bhrikuti in Tibet
hierarchical_section_title: Bhrikuti / Bhrikuti in Tibet
caption_attribution_description: English: Tibet king Sonsten Gampo (in the middle) and his two wifes, princess Bhrikuti of Nepal and princess Wencheng of China, the two wife bring bouddhism to Tibet. Kumbum of Gyantse. Français&#160;: Le Roi du Tibet Sonsten Gampo (au milieu) et ses deux femmes, la princesse Bhrikuti du Népal à gauche et la princesse Wencheng de Chine. Ces deux femmes ont apporté le bouddhisme au Tibet. Kumbum de Gyantse.
context_page_description: The Licchavi Princess Bhrikuti Devi, known to Tibetans as Bal-mo-bza' Khri-btsun, Bhelsa Tritsun or, simply, Khri bTsun, is traditionally considered to have been the first wife and queen of the earliest emperor of Tibet, Songtsen Gampo, and an incarnation of Tara. She was also known as "Besa", and was a princess of the Licchavi kingdom of Nepal and later the queen consort of Tibet.
  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, co-ruler and successor of Śivadeva I. If this is correct, the marriage to Songtsen Gampo must have taken place sometime before 624 CE. Acharya Kirti Tulku Lobsang Tenzin, however, states that Songstän Gampo married Bhrkuti Devi, the daughter of king "Angsu Varma" or Amshuvarma of Nepal in 632.
context_section_description: This is considered to be the oldest copy of the famous traditional history, the dBa' bzhed, 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). . . ."
  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 princess 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 Bodhisattvas.
  Songtsen 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. Songtsen 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.
caption: From right to left: Bhrikuti Devi, Songtsen Gampo and Wen Cheng, Gyantse
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