Note 28 — Chapter VI · RESIDENCE AT LHASA.

Phagpa was given the government of Tibet by the Emperor Kublai in A.D. 1260. The first of the Phagmodu kings was Nyakri btsan-po, who is said to have ascended the throne of Tibet (then a little principality south of the Tsangpo, in the Yarlung valley) B.C. 313. See I. J. Schmidt, op. sup. cit., p. 23; and Emil Schlagintweit, ‘Die Könige von Tibet,’ pp. 39–41. From B.C. 313 to A.D. 1260 is such a long period of time, that we are hardly able to say that the date of the introduction of tea into Tibet has been fixed. It is probable that the Tibetans did not use tea before the eighth century, at the earliest, and its use only became common in recent times. No mention, I believe, is made of tea in the works of Milarapa (eleventh century), nor in any of the older books known to us in the Tibetan language.—(W. R.) ↑