Theosophyĭuring the late 19th century, Theosophical Society co-founder Helena Blavatsky alluded to the Shambhala myth. The Hungarian scholar Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, writing in 1833, provided the first geographic account of 'a fabulous country in the north.situated between 45' and 50' north latitude'. Cacella in 1627 headed to Tashilhunpo, the seat of the Panchen Lama and, discovering his mistake, returned to India. The name itself, howewer, was reported as early as the 17th century, by way of Estêvão Cacella, the Portuguese missionary who had heard about Shambhala (transcribed as Xembala), and thought it was another name for Cathay or China. Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism were largely unknown in the West prior to the beginning of the 20th century. This final battle is prophesied for the year 2424 or 2425 (in the 5,104th year after the death of Buddha). The Kalachakra tantra prophesies that when the world declines into war and greed, and all is lost, the 25th Kalki king will emerge from Shambhala with a huge army to vanquish Dark Forces and usher in a worldwide Golden Age. In 59 BC he abdicated his throne to his son, Puṇḍārika, and died soon afterward, entering the Sambhogakaya of Buddhahood. Manjuśrīkīrti initiated the preaching of the Kalachakra teachings in order to try to convert those who returned and were still under his rule.

Those who did not return are said to have set up the city of Shambhala.

After realizing these were the wisest and best of his people and how much he was in need of them, he later asked them to return, and some did. He is said to have expelled 20,000 people from his domain who clung to 'Surya Samadhi' (solar worship) rather than convert to Kalachakra (Wheel of Time) Buddhism. In the narrative, king Manjuśrīkīrti is said to have been born in 159 BC and ruled over a kingdom of 300,510 followers of the Mlechha religion, some of whom worshipped the Sun. The oldest known teachers of Kalachakra are Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (d. Kalachakra Buddhism was presumably introduced to Tibet still in the 11th century, the epoch of the Tibetan Kalachakra calendar.

The Shambhala narrative is found in the Kalachakra tantra, a text of the group of the Anuttarayoga Tantras.

Shambala sun