Era of Fragmentation

The last king of the unified Tibetan Empire, Langdarma, was assassinated in 842 possibly by a Buddhist hermit monk named Pelgyi Dorje of Lhalung, or other sources state he died from fright. The death left two possible heirs, the two princes Yumtän and Ösung, that fought for the throne and initiated a civil war. This civil war weakened the political authority of the Tibetan monarchy, dissolving Tibet into separate tribes and small kingdoms. The son of Ösung was Pälkhortsän () (865–895 or 893–923), who had two sons, Trashi Tsentsän () and Thrikhyiding (), also called Kyide Nyigön () in some sources. Thrikhyiding migrated to the western Tibetan region of upper Ngari (Stod Mnga ris) and married a woman of high central Tibetan nobility, with whom he founded a local dynasty that would go on to create the kingdoms of Purang-Guge, Maryul, and Zanskar. ==Revolts and autonomy==

The dissolution of a centralized empire returned imperial Tibet to a multitude of separate, autonomous kingdoms, each ruled by a local leader, Nangchen, and Maryul (Ladakh) emerged. The period ended with the Mongol conquest of Tibet and the subsequent Yuan rule of Tibet and patronage of the Sakya school. Traditional accounts of the period focus on religion. The Era of Fragmentation is depicted as a low point in the development of Tibetan Buddhism, with the Nyingma school's monastic orders facing persecution and internal exile. Nyingma monasteries were alleged to have only persevered in Amdo, then largely dominated by non-Tibetan peoples and conquered by a Tibetan polity in the 10th century.), was responsible for the revival of the Nyingma school and Tibetan Buddhism in Amdo and in northeastern Tibet. The students of Rapsal returned to Ü-Tsang, where they re-propagated the Nyingma lineages and monastic Tibetan Buddhist orders. Modern historians argue that Buddhism was in fact widespread during the fragmentation period, and that local polities shared close relationships with Buddhist monastic leaders. ==See also==