The founding ruler of the Tibetan Empire, Songtsen Gampo (d. 650), is widely described within Tibetan historiography as an incarnation of Avalokiteśvara, the patron bodhisattva of Tibet. Thus made man, Avalokiteśvara is depicted as working for the benefit of the Tibetan people and the propagation of Buddhism through mundane and miraculous means.
However, it is unlikely that the historical Songtsen Gampo considered himself to be the incarnation of Avalokiteśvara. Instead, this association arose in the centuries following the collapse of the empire and served to galvanise a coherent Tibetan political and cultural identity rooted in a Buddhist reinterpretation of the past.
A similar motif appears in the science fiction setting of Warhammer 40,000. During his active reign, the Emperor of Mankind propagated an atheistic “Imperial Truth”. Later, in the wake of political crisis and civil war, he was reimagined by his followers as a god-like figure at the centre of a vast state religion. Like the recasting of Songtsen Gampo, this deification provided social cohesion, political legitimacy, and civilisational telos for the perpetually beleaguered Imperium of Man.
This paper compares these examples of retroactive sacralisation and considers the roles they have played in their respective contexts.
Author bio
Stephen James Pigott is a postgraduate student in the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Department at the University of Oxford. His research interests include Tibetan historiography, religion and politics, and the construction of historical memory.
