The Rising of the Dalai Lamas in Tibet: From the First to the Fourth 1391-1617

This work deals with the development of the Dalai Lamas in Tibet, particularly the early ones associated with the Mongol period: the first, second, third and fourth. The history of the first four Dalai Lamas shows the historical development of the Gelug-pa and the actual connections between an evolving unification of Tibet under the symbolic recognition and military support by the Mongols and their lineages. The religious and political consolidation exercised by the Fifth Dalai Lama was to provide the foundation for the Dalai Lama as a political institution and for Tibet as an independent and autonomous nation unified by a figure that was the incarnation of the Buddha and the political successor to a unified Tibet, at that time still very much isolated from the rest of the world.