Songtsän Gampo was the founder of the Tibetan Empire (吐蕃, Tubo/Tufan), by tradition held to be the thirty-third ruler in his dynasty. The dates of his birth and when he took the throne are not certain. In Tibetan accounts it is generally accepted that he was born in 617 (one year before the founding of the Tang Dynasty, when Gaozu of Tang became emperor of China). As he is thought to have ascended the throne at age thirteen, by this reckoning c. 629 CE. Songtsän Gampo is traditionally credited with being the first to bring Buddhism to the Tibetan people. He is also said to have built many Buddhist temples, including the Jokhang in Lhasa, the city which he is credited in one tradition with founding and establishing it as his capital.