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{{Short description|First king of Tibet}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name = Nyatri Tsenpo
| title =
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| image = Nyatri Tsenpo.jpg
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| succession = [[List of emperors of Tibet|King of Tibet]]
| moretext =
| reign = 127 BC – ???
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| successor = [[Mutri Tsenpo]]
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| native_lang1 = [[Tibetan script]]
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| dynasty = [[Yarlung dynasty|Yarlung]]
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| module = {{Infobox Chinese
| child = yes
| ibox-order = bo, zh
| tib = {{Bo-textonly|གཉའ་ཁྲི་བཙན་པོ་}}
| wylie = gnya' khri btsan po
| zwpy =
| lhasa =
| t = 聶赤贊普
| s = 聂赤赞普
| p = Nièchì Zànpǔ
| w = {{Tone superscript|Nieh4-ch'ih4 Tsan4-p'u3}} }}
}}

'''Nyatri Tsenpo''' ({{bo|t=གཉའ་ཁྲི་བཙན་པོ་}}, {{literal translation|Neck-Enthroned King}}) was the first [[List of emperors of Tibet|king of Tibet]] and a [[legendary progenitor]] of the [[Yarlung dynasty]]. Although stories of his origin vary, most describe him as an outsider whom the [[Tibetans]] accepted as their king because of his physical abnormalities and strength.

[[Tibetan Buddhism|Tibetan Buddhist]] sources generally describe him as having had [[Syndactyly|webbed hands]], with one account stating he was an [[India]]n prince with the additional deformity of [[eyelid]]s closing from the bottom rather than the top. More recent Tibetan Buddhist sources describe him as a descendant of the [[Shakya]] clan. The [[Dunhuang manuscripts]] give Nyatri Tsenpo a more divine origin, stating that he was a [[Sky deity|sky god]] who descended from [[heaven]] to rule [[Tibet]] after seeing its natural beauty. Nonetheless, all accounts conclude the story of his origin with the Tibetans carrying him on their necks and shoulders and giving him the [[Tibetan name]] "Nyatri Tsenpo", which means "Neck-Enthroned King".

The start of his reign is traditionally placed at 127 BC, which marks the first year of the [[Tibetan calendar]]. According to [[Tibetan mythology]], Nyatri Tsenpo constructed the first Tibetan building, [[Yungbulakang Palace]]. At the end of his reign, Nyatri Tsenpo is said to have ascended or returned to heaven by climbing a rope. [[Losar]], the Tibetan New Year, is celebrated in his honour.

== Origin ==
There are conflicting stories about the origin and mortality of Nyatri Tsenpo. His place of origin has been variously claimed to be [[Tibet]], [[India]], [[China]], or [[heaven]].<ref name="Concise History of Tibet, pp. 14–15">{{cite book |author1=Chapel Tseten Phuntsog |author-link1=Chapel Tseten Phuntsog |author2=Nortrang Urgyan |author3=Phuntsog Tsering |title=Concise Edition of a General History of Tibet |date=2011 |orig-date=1989 |publisher=[[China International Publishing Group]] |isbn=9787508521138 |pages=14–15 |language=en}}</ref>

In the pre-[[Buddhism|Buddhist]], indigenous [[Bon]] religion, it is traditionally held that the early kings of Tibet were gods who had descended from heaven to rule the people of earth.<ref name="Concise History of Tibet, pp. 14–15"/> The [[Dunhuang manuscripts]] state that Nyatri Tsenpo was a [[Sky deity|god of the sky]] who, upon seeing the natural beauty of Tibet, descended from heaven onto the sacred mountain [[Yarlha Shampo]] to rule over the land.<ref name="Yeshe de Project">{{cite book |title=Ancient Tibet: Research Materials from the Yeshe de Project |date=1986 |publisher=Dharma Publishing |location=[[Berkeley, California|Berkeley, CA]] |isbn=978-0-89800-137-2 |url=https://pahar.in/pahar/Books%20and%20Articles/Tibet%20and%20China/1986%20Ancient%20Tibet--Research%20Materials%20from%20the%20Yeshe%20De%20Project%20s.pdf |pages=141–143 |language=en}}</ref> He made his way down the valley where he met a group of Tibetans, whom he impressed with his beauty, charisma, and power. The Tibetans asked him where he had come from due to his physical appearance, which differed from the Tibetans'. Unable to speak the Tibetan language, he responded by pointing to the sky, which the Tibetans interpreted as a confirmation of his divinity. Believing the encounter to be fated, the Tibetans lifted him onto their necks and shoulders (in some accounts using a [[yoke]]<ref name="Stupa">{{cite web |title=The Story of the First King of Tibet |url=https://thestupa.com/culture-history/the-story-of-the-first-king-of-tibet/ |website=The Stupa |access-date=20 January 2026}}</ref>) and made him their king, giving him the [[Tibetan name]] "Nyatri Tsenpo", which means "Neck-Enthroned King".<ref name="Yeshe de Project"/>

[[Tibetan Buddhism|Tibetan Buddhist]] sources give a similar account of Nyatri Tsenpo's origin but portray him as a prince who had arrived from [[India]], possibly to strengthen his ties to Buddhism or [[the Buddha]] himself.<ref>{{cite book |author=Tsepon Wangchuk Deden Shakabpa |translator-last=Maher |translator-first=Derek F. |title=One Hundred Thousand Moons: An Advanced Political History of Tibet |date=2010 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |isbn=978-90-04-17788-8 |page=109 |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/One_Hundred_Thousand_Moons.html?id=8AQwAQAAIAAJ |access-date=20 January 2026 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="tibet-info.eu">{{cite web |title=The Yarlung Kings |url=https://tibet-info.eu/language/en/the-yarlung-kings/ |website=tibet-info.eu |access-date=20 January 2026 |date=5 December 2019}}</ref> [[Buddhist canons]] differ as to his exact lineage, and he has been variously described as a descendant of [[Bimbisara]] of [[Magadha]], [[Pasenadi|Prasenajit]] of [[Kosala (Mahajanapada)|Kosala]], or [[Udayana (king)|Udayana]] of [[Vatsa]].<ref name="Sørensen 1994, pp. 138–139">{{cite book |last1=Sørensen |first1=Per K. |title=The Mirror Illuminating the Royal Genealogies: Tibetan Buddhist Historiography: an Annotated Translation of the XIVth Century Tibetan Chronicle: RGyal-rabs Gsal- Ba'i Me-long |date=1994 |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |isbn=978-3-447-03510-1 |pages=138–139 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CeuBznK7RiMC&pg=PA138 |access-date=20 January 2026 |language=en}}</ref> One story claims Nyatri Tsenpo was a son of Udayana who was born with multiple physical deformities, including "unusual marks", [[Syndactyly|webbed hands]], and [[eyelid]]s closing from the bottom instead of the top.<ref name="Yeshe de Project"/> He was thrown into the [[Ganges]] in a box and rescued by peasants, but he ran away to the [[Himalayas]] after [[coming of age]].<ref name="Yeshe de Project"/> A similar story says he was the only son of a king in eastern India who, upon seeing his deformities, ordered that he be killed. However, nobody was brave enough to kill him and he was instead placed inside a brass jar and thrown into the Ganges. He was later discovered by a farmer who raised him in the forest until he came of age; upon hearing of his true origin, he ran away until he reached Tibet.<ref name="Stupa"/> More recent Tibetan Buddhist sources claim Nyatri Tsenpo was a descendant of the [[Shakya]] clan, sometimes a Shakya princess who had fled to Tibet.<ref name="Concise History of Tibet, pp. 14–15"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Message of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the Fourteenth Assembly of the Tibetan People's Deputies |url=https://www.dalailama.com/news/2011/message-of-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-to-the-fourteenth-assembly-of-the-tibetan-peoples-deputies |publisher=The Office of His Holiness The Dalai Lama |access-date=21 January 2026 |date=14 March 2011 |language=en}}</ref>

Alternatively, [[Changkya Rolpai Dorje]], an 18th-century Tibetan Buddhist teacher in the [[Qing dynasty|Qing]] court, recorded that Nyatri Tsenpo was originally a mortal named Wubera. He was the youngest of nine sons born to a woman named Chamotsun from [[Kingdom of Powo|Powo]] (present-day [[Bomê County]], Tibet Autonomous Region).<ref name="Concise History of Tibet, pp. 14–15"/> Wubera was said to be handsome and strong but cursed with webbed hands, which frightened the other townspeople. He was consequently banished from his hometown when he came of age, and wandered the Himalayas until he met a group of Tibetans. The Tibetans were convinced of Wubera's divinity due to his physical abnormalities and strength, and asked him to be their king. Wubera accepted and was subsequently lifted onto the Tibetans' necks and shoulders and given the name "Nyatri Tsenpo".<ref name="Concise History of Tibet, pp. 14–15"/> Some Chinese-language historical documents follow a similar narrative but claim Nyatri Tsenpo had arrived from [[China proper]], but this account has been discredited even by Chinese scholars.<ref name="Concise History of Tibet, pp. 14–15"/>

== Reign ==
[[File:YumbuLhakhang.jpg|thumb|[[Yungbulakang Palace]], purportedly the first Tibetan building and the seat of the [[Yarlung dynasty]]]]

According to Tibetan sources, Nyatri Tsenpo began his reign in 127 BC (Wood-Tiger year in the [[Tibetan calendar]]).<ref name="Stupa"/><ref name="Tsering BK">{{cite web |last=Tsering |first=Bhuchung K. |title=This Tiger Year Losar, let us talk about Tibetan astrology |url=https://weblog.savetibet.org/2022/02/this-tiger-year-losar-let-us-talk-about-tibetan-astrology/ |publisher=[[International Campaign for Tibet]] |access-date=21 January 2026}}</ref><ref name="Pastis-Momo">{{cite web |title=Losar, Tibetan New Year |url=https://pastis-momo.com/en/losar-tibetan-new-year/ |website=Pastis-Momo |access-date=20 January 2026 |date=4 March 2022}}</ref> Some sources record 127 BC as the year of his birth, while others state he was born in 115 BC (Fire-Tiger year).<ref name="Tsering BK"/>

Seeing that the Tibetans lived in caves, Nyatri Tsenpo built the first Tibetan building, [[Yungbulakang Palace]], which became the royal seat of the [[Yarlung dynasty]] started by Nyatri Tsenpo.<ref name="Swatos 1990">{{cite book |last=Swatos |first=William H. |title=Time, Place, and Circumstance: Neo-Weberian Studies in Comparative Religious History |date=1990 |publisher=Greenwood Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/timeplacecircums0000unse/page/43 43] |language=en |isbn=0313268924 |url=https://archive.org/details/timeplacecircums0000unse/page/43}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Finegan |first1=Jack |title=An Archaeological History of Religions of Indian Asia |date=1989 |publisher=Paragon House |isbn=978-0-913729-43-4 |page=639 |url=https://www.google.ca/books/edition/An_Archaeological_History_of_Religions_o/BrDXAAAAMAAJ |access-date=21 January 2026 |language=en |quotation='''''Yumbulagang'''''. The original home of the Yarlung Dynasty, it has been explained above, was in the valley of the Yarlung River. There, as the Buddhist histories tell the story, the Bon priests recognized a certain Nyatrhi Tsenpo as descended from heaven and made him their king, the first in the long line of forty-two kings of the Yarlung Dynasty, and there Nyatrhi Tsenpo built his palace, called Yumbulagang.}}</ref>

Followers of Bon and Tibetan Buddhism both revere Nyatri Tsenpo and the six kings who followed him as divine and immortal beings.<ref name="tibet-info.eu"/><ref name="Swatos 1990"/> In [[Tibetan mythology]], it is said that the first seven kings of Tibet, upon completing their respective reigns, returned to heaven by climbing a rope dropped from the skies.<ref name="tibet-info.eu"/> The eighth king, [[Drigum Tsenpo]], lost his immortality because a minister he had quarreled with named Longam cursed him with magic and cut the rope between heaven and earth. Drigum Tsenpo was subsequently assassinated by Longam and became the first Tibetan king to be [[Tomb|entombed]].<ref name="tibet-info.eu"/><ref name="Swatos 1990"/>

== Legacy ==
The year of Nyatri Tsenpo's enthronement marks the first year of the [[Tibetan calendar]]. [[Losar]], the Tibetan [[New Year]], is celebrated in his honour.<ref name="Pastis-Momo"/>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Emperors of Tibet}}
{{Legendary progenitors}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Tibetan kings]]
[[Category:Legendary progenitors]]
[[Category:Founding monarchs in Asia]]

Nyatri Tsenpo - Revision history

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