Wikipedia

Makpon Kingdom

Balti empire in Central-East Asia

The Makpon Kingdom or the Makpon Empire (Balti: དམག་དཔོན།, Wylie: dmag dpon),[1] also called Tibet-I-Khurd (Little Tibet) by the Mughals, was a Balti Tibetan empire led by the Maqpon Dynasty. It existed on the Tibetan Plateau and reached from Chitral in the west to Burang in Western Tibet in the east.[2][3][4] Ibrahim Maqpon founded it in 1190, and it lasted for about 700 years.[5] The most prosperous period started with Ali Senge Anchan, who united Baltistan and expanded his rule from Chitral to the Mansarowar Valley in Western Tibet.[6][6] Makpon empire under Ali Senge Anchan is regarded as the "Golden age" of Baltiyul.[7]

Baltit fort in Hunza built in traditional Balti/Tibetan architecture by a Maqpon Princess, who married the King of Hunza.

The Makpon Empire is named after the Tibetan and Balti title "Makpon", which means 'Army Leader,' 'Commander-in-Chief,' or 'Military Chief'.[1] In 1835, G. T. Vigne visited Baltistan and translated "Magpon/Makpon" as "Duke" or "Chief" in his book Antiquities of Indian Tibet.[8]

History

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Kharpocho fort built on top of a mountain in Skardu by the Makpons.

Until the tenth century, Baltistan was part of West Tibetan province, practicing Tibetan Buddhism. Over time, Buddhist influence decreased. Sayyid Ali Hamadani is credited with introducing Noorbakhshism in Baltistan by converting Buddhists in Khaplu and Shigar valleys.[5]

In the 12th or 13th century, Ibrahim Shah, a Prince from Kashmir (Egypt in some sources) married the Princess of Skardo, establishing the Makpon Dynasty.[1] After Tibetan suzerainty dissolved, the Maqpon dynasty ruled Baltistan. A student of Sayyid Ali Hamadani, visited Baltistan in the 9th century, converting many Baltis to Islam.[9][10][11]

Maqpon Bukha or Bugha (1464-1490 A.D.) is considered the real founder of the Makpon Dynasty. He established the capital of Skardo.[12] He faced challenges but surprised his subjects by governing effectively. Ali Khan (1540-1565 A.D.) expanded his kingdom, and Ghazi Mir (1565-1580 A.D.) conquered the Rondu Valley. Ali Senge Anchan (1580-1624 A.D.) is a significant figure who expanded the empire from Chitral to Burang in Western Tibet.[13]

Ali Senge Khan also conquered Ladakh, facing conflict with the Ladakh raja.[14] Later rulers, like Ghazi Mir and Ali Senge Anchan's son, expanded the kingdom to Gilgit, Hunza, Nagar, Nuristan and Chitral.[15] In Balti folk songs Anchan's remarkable conquests are praised and Maqpon Empire's boundaries are defined as following:[16][17]

‘Leh Purang na Brushal Shingel’.[18]

Meaning from Leh's Purang to Brooshals Shingel is Makpon. Ali Senge Anchan initiated the game of Polo at the Shundur Polo Ground, which is the worlds highest Polo ground.[19] The Mughal Empire conquered Baltistan in 1586, and the local rulers pledged allegiance.[20] Ali Senge Anchan had a significant encounter with the Mughal court, forming an alliance and introducing Mughal arts to the region.

In 1839, the Dogra commander Zorawar Singh defeated Balti forces, leading to the end of the Maqpon dynasty in 1845.[21] The last king, Ahmed Shah, was taken prisoner and died in captivity in Lhasa, Tibet.[22]

Maqpon dynasty
Preceded by
Tibetan Empire 		Monarchy
1190–1840 CE 		Succeeded by
Dogra Rule

Religion

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The Balti people were once influenced by Zhangzhung and the Bon religion, practicing Animism. In 686, Baltistan came under the control of the Tibetan Empire. Under the rule of Songtsen Gampo, Tibetan Buddhism started influencing the region. Gompas and stupas were built, and lamas became important in Balti life.[23]

 
Interior of Chaqchan Gonma (Mosque) built during the Makpon period in Khaplu, Baltistan.

In the 14th century, Islamic scholars from Kashmir traveled through the mountains to spread Islam. By the late 17th century, Islam gained strength in Baltistan due to the efforts of the Noorbakshia Sufi order. Over time, many people converted to Shia Islam, while only a few chose Sunni Islam.[10]

Maqpon Dynasty

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The Makpon dynasty or the Makpon Royal House ruled the Makpon Empire. The dynasty was founded by Ibrahim Makpon, who married the Princess of Skardu.[24] Following is the timeline of Makpon rulers:[25]

Name Balti Reign
Ibrahim Makpon ཡིབྲ་ཧིམ་དམག་དཔོན། 1190-1220 CE
Astak Senge ཨ་སཏག་སེང་གེ། 1220-1250 CE
Zak Senge ཟག་སེང་གེ། 1250-1280 CE
Bardak Senge བར་དག་སེང་གེ། 1280-1310 CE
Sek Senge སེག་སེང་གེ། 1310-1340 CE
Tam Gori Tham གཏམ་གོ་རི་ཐམ། 1340-1370 CE
Sa Gori Tham ས་གོ་རི་ཐམ། 1370-1400 CE
Khohkor Senge ཁོ་ཧྐོར་སེང་གེ། 1400-1437 CE
Ghota Cho Senge གོ་ཏ་ཆོ་སེང་གེ། 1437-1464 CE
Bahram Cho བ་ཧྲམ་ཆོ། 1464-1490 CE
Bo Kha བོ་ཁ​། 1490-1515 CE
Senge Shah སེང་གེ་ཤ། 1515-1540 CE
Ali Wangchen ཨ་ལི་དབང་ཆེན། 1540-1565 CE
Ghazi Mir ག་ཟི་མིར། 1565-1590 CE
Ali Senge Khan Anchan ཨ་ལི་སེང་གེ་དབན་ཆེན། 1580-1624 CE
Abdal Wangchen ཨ་བདལ་དབང་ཆེན། 1624-1636 CE
Adam Wangchen ཨ་དམ་དབན་ཆེན། 1636-1655 CE
Murad Wangchen མུ་རད་དབན་ཆེན། 1655-1670 CE
Senge Wangchen I སེང་གེ་དབན་ཆེན། ༡ 1670-1678 CE
Muhammad Rafi Wangchen མུ་ཨ་མད་ར་ཕི་དབང་ཆེན། 1678-1680 CE
Senge Wangchen II སེང་གེ་དབང་ཆེན། ༢ 1680-1710 CE
Mohammad Rafi མོ་ཨ་མད་རཕི། 1710-1745 CE
Gyalpo Murad རྒྱལ་པོ་མུ་རད། 1745-1780 CE
Azam Wangchen ཨ་ཟམ་དབང་ཆེན། 1780-1785 CE
Mohammad Zafar Wangchen མོ་ཨ་མད་ཟ་ཕར་དབང་ཆེན། 1785-1787 CE
Ali Senge Wangchen II ཨ་ལི་སེང་གེ་དབང་ཆེན། ༢ 1787-1811 CE
Ahmed Shah ཨ་ཧྨད་ཤ། 1811-1840 CE

References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Halkias The Muslim Queens of the Himalayas (PDF). Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies. 2011.
  2. ↑ Minahan, James (2002). Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: A-C. Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-313-32109-2.
  3. ↑ Afridi, Banat Gul (1988). Baltistan in History. Emjay Books International.
  4. ↑ "The Western Himalayan States" (PDF). UNESCO.org. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Kapstein, Matthew T.; Ramble, Charles (2022-01-31). The Many Faces of King Gesar: Tibetan and Central Asian Studies in Homage to Rolf A. Stein. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-50346-5.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Pakistan, Adventure Land. "About Baltistan". adventurelandpakistan.com. Archived from the original on 2023-12-01. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
  7. ↑ "Baltistan". Baltistan Tours | Trekking and Mountaineering Specialist in Karakoram, Himalaya & Hindukush Pakistan. Retrieved 2024-05-15.
  8. ↑ Francke, August Hermann (1992). Antiquities of Indian Tibet. Asian Educational Services. ISBN 978-81-206-0769-9.
  9. ↑ Hussain, Shafqat (2021-04-26), "The History of Gilgit-Baltistan", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.378, retrieved 2023-11-29
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Rieck, Andreas (1995). "The Nurbakhshis of Baltistan: Crisis and Revival of a Five Centuries Old Community". Die Welt des Islams. 35 (2): 159–188. ISSN 0043-2539. JSTOR 1571229.
  11. ↑ Unesco (1998-01-01). History of Civilizations of Central Asia. UNESCO. ISBN 978-92-3-103467-1.
  12. ↑ The Archaeological Review. Sindh Exploration and Adventurer Society. 2001.
  13. ↑ Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Masson, Vadim Mikhaĭlovich; Unesco (2003-01-01). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: Development in contrast : from the sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. UNESCO. ISBN 978-92-3-103876-1.
  14. ↑ S.R. Bakshi (1997-01-01). Kashmir History and People. unknown library. Sarup & Sons.
  15. ↑ Jina, Prem Singh (2005). Ladakh Profile. Kalpaz Publications. ISBN 978-81-7835-437-8.
  16. ↑ Afridi, Banat Gul (1988). Baltistan in History. Emjay Books International.
  17. ↑ Bakshi, S. R. (1997). Kashmir: History and People. Sarup & Sons. ISBN 978-81-85431-96-3.
  18. ↑ Cite error: The named reference :02 was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
  19. ↑ Mills, James H. (2005-05-15). Subaltern Sports: Politics and Sport in South Asia. Anthem Press. ISBN 978-1-84331-760-9.
  20. ↑ Adshead, S. A. M. (2016-07-27). Central Asia in World History. Springer. ISBN 978-1-349-22624-5.
  21. ↑ Charak, Prof Sukhdev Singh (2016-09-08). GENERAL ZORAWAR SINGH. Publications Division Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. ISBN 978-81-230-2648-0.
  22. ↑ Kaul, Shridhar; Kaul, H. N. (1992). Ladakh Through the Ages, Towards a New Identity. Indus Publishing. ISBN 978-81-85182-75-9.
  23. ↑ Afridi, Banat Gul (1988). Baltistan in History. Emjay Books International.
  24. ↑ Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Masson, Vadim Mikhaĭlovich; Unesco (2003-01-01). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: Development in contrast : from the sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth century. UNESCO. ISBN 978-92-3-103876-1.
  25. ↑ Lakhnaʼvī, Ḥashmatullāh K̲h̲ān̲ (1987). History of Baltistan. Lok Virsa.
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