The Social and the Religious in the Making of Tibetan Societies

Abstract

This volume contains eight contributions belonging to the field of early Tibetan studies with a strong social anthropological and historical perspective. The thematic focus is related to the social and the religious in the making of Tibetan societies primarily between the 7th and 17th century. This includes studies of the conception of the rulers of early (7th–9th century) Tibet and their burial customs, the socio-political topography, the adoption of Buddhism as state religion in the 8th century and its role in the foundation of the West Tibetan kingdom in the 10th century as well as ritual traditions in later (post-11th century) regional contexts. The main hypothesis underlying the contributions in this volume is the indissoluble connection of the religious with the social, which is reflected in formulations of "custom" and "tradition" and a conception of "sacred" kingship and related ritual practices in pre-Buddhist contexts that were modified with the introduction and establishment of Buddhism and adapted in post-dynastic times to various regional contexts. In these studies, the basis is formed by so far little-researched primary written sources (Tibetan texts, manuscripts, and inscriptions) and a wealth of newly documented first-hand archaeological, geographic, and ethnographic data. Beside the keen attention to primary sources throughout the volume, another strongly innovative aspect consists of the successful application of fresh concepts in the social anthropology of the social and the religious to a variety of historical, in particular 7th–9th century Tibetan contexts.