Kings of Shambhala

In the Indo-Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist tradition, there are thirty-two Kings of Shambhala that all reside in a mythical kingdom. The first notable king of Shambhala, King Suchandra (sometimes wrongly Sanskritized as "Chandrabhadra," Tib. Dawa Sangpo), is reported to have requested teaching from the Buddha. In response to this request, it is said the Buddha gave him the first Kalachakra root tantra. By practicing the Kalachakra, the whole of Shambhala eventually became an enlightened society.

King Suchandra was followed by an additional six Dharmarajas (Truth Kings), with his eighth successor, Manjushri Yashas (sometimes wrongly Sanskritized as "Manjushrikirti"), the first of the 25 Kalki Kings (Tib. Rigden, wylie: rigs ldan) (see below).

The most recent 25 of the 32 Kings of Shambhala are known as Kalki kings (Tib. Rigden, wylie: rigs ldan), meaning "Holder of the Castes." The Kalki King is said to reside upon a "Lion Throne" in Kalapa, the capital city of the Kingdom. The Kalki are holders of the Kalachakra (Wheel of Time), which are the teachings of Buddha Shakyamuni passed down from the original seven Dharmarajas of Shambhala.

As explained by Buddhist scholar John R. Newman, the Kalki are often erroneously termed "Kulika" by Tibetan Buddhist scholars unfamiliar with the original Sanskrit texts:

".. . so far no one seems to have examined the Sanskrit Kalachakra texts. The Buddhist myth of the Kalkis of Shambhala derives from the Hindu Kalki of Shambhala myths contained in the Mahabharata and the Puranas. The Vimalaprabha even refers to the Kalki Purana, probably the latest of the upapuranas. This relationship has been obscured by western scholars who have reconstructed the Tibetan translation term rigs ldan as "Kulika." Although Tibetan rigs ldan is used to translate the Sankrit kulika in other contexts, here it always represents Sanskrit kalkin (possessive of kalkah; I have used the nominative kalki)."

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