theocracy · China, Tibet and Mongolia
Sakya regime
Origins
In 1244 the scholar Sakya Pandita answered a summons from the Mongol prince Köden and negotiated Tibet's submission. His nephew Phagpa became spiritual teacher to Kublai, who made him Imperial Preceptor and in the 1260s gave the Sakya lamas authority over Tibet, organised after a census into thirteen myriarchies.
Rule and society
The Sakya lamas spent much time at the Yuan court, while an administrator, the ponchen, governed from Sakya with Mongol backing; Shakya Zangpo was the first. Phagpa devised a new script for Kublai's empire in 1269. Rivalry with other monastic orders was intense, and a revolt by the Drikung was crushed with Mongol troops in 1290.
Decline and legacy
As Yuan power waned, the myriarch Changchub Gyaltsen of Phagmodru fought the Sakya administrators and by 1354 controlled central Tibet, founding the Phagmodrupa dynasty. Sakya remained a major monastery and school of Tibetan Buddhism.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (3)
- Sakya regime was a vassal of Mongol Empire1247 CE – 1271 CE
- Mangyul Gungthang was a vassal of Sakya regime1265 CE – 1354 CE
- Sakya regime was a vassal of Yuan Dynasty1271 CE – 1354 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Sakya regime. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/sakya-regime
- MLA
- “Sakya regime.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/sakya-regime. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Sakya regime.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/sakya-regime.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Sakya regime’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/sakya-regime (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻