In the mid-7th C, the Tibetan Empire was ruled by kings who controlled much of the plateau and the surrounding regions of the Central Himalayas. Through conquest and tribute, they became wealthy and powerful, and in death, they are said to have taken much of that wealth with them. Unlike their ancestors who were taken at death to heaven on a rope to join their predecessors, these rulers were interred in massive tombs in the Yarlung valley of central Tibet that housed not only themselves, but their attendants and even state ministers who accompanied them into the afterlife. In this lecture, I describe the rise of the empire, the death rituals of these kings, their tombs, and the wider context of mortuary practice on the plateau and the Himalayas.
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