Thothori Nyantsen orLha Thothori Nyantsan (Tibetan:ལྷ་ཐོ་ཐོ་རི་གཉན་བཙན་,Wylie:lha tho tho ri gnyan btsan), was the 28th King ofTibet and among the members of theYarlung dynasty's 42 kings who ruled Tibet from 127 BCE to 842 AD. According to legend, he received Tibet's first Buddhist texts from the sky and guarded them, his epithet"Lha" was his honorary title which means "divine, pertaining to the gods of the sky".[1] Modern scholars believe that he indeed was a historical person and king.
Since he is also mentioned in a Chinese source,[2] they date his rule to the 5th century, because the 33rd kingSongtsen Gampo died in 683; other calculations putting his birth at 173 or 254 are nowadays rejected.[3] He did not rule over the entireTibetan Plateau since the future Tibetan Empire had not yet been established.
Mahayana Buddhist scriptures, among them theKāraṇḍavyūhasūtra first arrived in Tibet in his time.[4] Verbal history states this happened as the volumes and treasures fell from the sky onto the roof of the royalYumbulagang Palace. Another account states there was the arrival of a Buddhist missionary[5] who brought the gifts for the king.
