Zhangzhung ཞང་ཞུང་ | |||||||||||
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| c. 500 BC–625 AD[1] | |||||||||||
General location of Zhangzhung, with contemporary neighbouring polities c. AD 500 | |||||||||||
| Capital | Kyunglung | ||||||||||
| Common languages | Zhang-Zhung language | ||||||||||
| Religion | Bön | ||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||
| Brtsanpo | |||||||||||
| Historical era | Iron Age? to Classical Antiquity | ||||||||||
• Established | c. 500 BC | ||||||||||
• Conquest of Songtsen Gampo | 625 AD[1] | ||||||||||
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| Today part of | China India Nepal | ||||||||||
| Zhangzhung | |||||||
| Tibetan name | |||||||
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| Tibetan | ཞང་ཞུང་ | ||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||
| Chinese | 象雄 | ||||||
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Zhangzhung or Shangshung was an ancient kingdom in western and northwestern Tibet, existing from about 500 BCE to 625 CE, pre-dating Tibetan Buddhism. The Zhangzhung culture is associated with the Bon religion, which has influenced the philosophies and practices of Tibetan Buddhism. Zhangzhung people are mentioned frequently in ancient Tibetan texts as the original rulers of today's western Tibet. Only in the last two decades have archaeologists been given access to do field work in the areas once ruled by the Zhangzhung.
- ^ Aldenderfer, Mark (2007). "Defining Zhang Zhung ethnicity: an archaeological perspective from far western Tibet". In Amy Heller and Giacomella Orofino (ed.). Discoveries in Western Tibet and the Western Himalayas: Essays on History, Literature, Archaeology and Art. Tibetan Studies, Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Oxford, 2003. Leiden: Brill. pp. 1–22. ISBN 978-90-04-15520-6.