Mipham Wanggyur Gyalpo

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Mipham Wanggyur Gyalpo (Wylie : Mi pham dbang sgyur rgyal po, 1589? – 1613?) was a king in Central Tibet who ruled in 1604–1613 and belonged to the Phagmodrupa Dynasty. His largely nominal reign saw increasing political tumult in Tibet which was related to the political ambitions of the rival Tsangpa Dynasty.

Wylie transliteration

The Wylie transliteration system is a method for transliterating Tibetan script using only the letters available on a typical English language typewriter. It bears the name of Turrell V. Wylie, who described the scheme in an article, A Standard System of Tibetan Transcription, published in 1959. It has subsequently become a standard transliteration scheme in Tibetan studies, especially in the United States.

Tsangpa dynasty that dominated large parts of Tibet from 1565 to 1642.

Tsangpa was a dynasty that dominated large parts of Tibet from 1565 to 1642. It was the last Tibetan royal dynasty to rule in own name. The regime was founded by Karma Tseten, a low-born retainer of the prince of the Rinpungpa Dynasty and governor of Shigatse in Tsang since 1548.

Contents

Alliance with the Dalai Lama faction

The preceding king (gongma) Ngawang Drakpa Gyaltsen had led an inefficient but relatively peaceful reign in the last decades of the sixteenth century. Although the executive powers of the Phagmodrupa slipped away after the political turmoil of the 1550s and 1560s, the gongma was at the center of a system where different religious and political factions of Ü (East Central Tibet) balanced each other. Meanwhile, Tsang (West Central Tibet) was increasingly dominated by the upstart Tsangpa Dynasty. The Gelugpa church, which had the Dalai Lama as spiritual head, entertained good relations with the Phagmodrupa. When the Fourth Dalai Lama Yonten Gyatso traveled from Mongolia to Tibet in 1601, he was met by an envoy of Mipham Wanggyur Gyalpo, a member of another branch of the family than that of the old gongma. Strangely, he is here called gongma and lord of all Tibet (Gangchen namkyi gön chik). [1] When the actual monarch Ngawang Drakpa Gyaltsen died in 1603 or 1604 he was not succeeded by his son Kagyud Nampar Gyalwa but rather by Mipham Wanggyur Gyalpo, who was also called Ngagi Wangchuk Drakba Gyaltsen Pal Zangpo. [2] He might have been a grand-nephew of the late king. It appears that he did not renew the bonds with the religious leaders of the Karmapa and Shamarpa, but sought friendly relations with Gelugpa (the school of Dalai Lama) and Drukpa. [3]

Ngawang Drakpa (Gyaltsen) was a king in Central Tibet who ruled from 1554 to 1556/57, and again from 1576 to 1603/04. He belonged to the Phagmodrupa Dynasty which held power in Tibet or parts of it from 1354 to the early 17th century. Due to the internal family feuds that preceded his reign most of the powers of his predecessor slipped from his hands.

Ü is a geographic division and a historical region in Tibet. Together with Tsang, it forms Central Tibet Ü-Tsang, which is one of the three Tibetan regions or cholka (cholka-sum). The other two cholka are Kham (Dotod) and Amdo (Domed). According to a Tibetan saying, "the best religion comes from Ü-Tsang, the best men from Kham, and the best horses from Amdo".

Ü-Tsang Union of Ü and Tsang kingdoms in central Tibet, do not include Amdo (Qinghai) and Kham (Xikang) nor Ngari (western region, former Guge kingdom)

Ü-Tsang or Tsang-Ü, is one of the four traditional provinces of Tibet, the other being Amdo in the North-East, the Kham in the East and the Ngari in the North-West. Geographically Ü-Tsang covered the south-central of the Tibetan cultural area, including the Brahmaputra River watershed. The western districts surrounding and extending past Mount Kailash are included in Ngari, and much of the vast Changtang plateau to the north. The Himalayas defined Ü-Tsang's southern border. The present Tibet Autonomous Region corresponds approximately to what was ancient Ü-Tsang and western Kham.

Turbulence in Central Tibet

The chronicle of the Fifth Dalai Lama, The Song of the Spring Queen, says that "after the zhabdrung gongma [Ngawang Drakpa Gyaltsen] demonstrated how to remove [oneself] to another sphere [i.e., died], the writ of the Phagmodrupa no longer ran." [4] The political situation of Central Tibet was disturbed by increasing activity by the Tsangpa ruler Karma Tensung who led a military expedition to Phanyul in 1605. Two years later a conference was held in the Phagmodrupa stronghold Gongkar (Gongri Karpo) where the Tsangpa and some Ü factions were represented. The meeting did not lead to a political settlement. In 1610 the Tsangpa attacked and completely crushed the important Yargyab polity and moved to restrict the influence of the Gelugpa and their leader, the Third Dalai Lama Yonten Gyatso. The Phagmodrupa, who played an increasingly marginal role in regional politics, were involved in fighting in Yartö in 1613. Mipham Wanggyur Gyalpo seemingly died in the same year, presumably in connection with the war or the smallpox epidemic that broke out at the same time. It is not certain who succeeded him, but the next documented Phagmodrupa ruler was Mipham Sonam Wangchuk Drakpa Namgyal Palzang in the 1620s. [5]

Karma Tensung, in full Karma Tensung Wangpo, was a king of Tsang who probably reigned from 1599 to 1611. He belonged to the Tsangpa Dynasty that ruled parts of Tibet from 1565 to 1642.

Gonggar County County in Tibet, Peoples Republic of China

Gonggar County, also Gongkar, is a county of Shannan in the Tibet Autonomous Region, one of the 12 counties of the prefecture. It has under its jurisdiction 5 towns, 3 townships, 43 administrative villages and 168 village development committees and contains notable landmarks such as the Gonggar Choide Monastery, the Gonggar Dzong, and the Gonggar Airport and the Gonggar town.

Mipham Sonam Wangchuk Drakpa Namgyal Palzang was a king in Central Tibet. He belonged to the Phagmodrupa Dynasty which reigned in Tibet, or parts of it, from 1354 to the early 17th century, and was the last prince of the dynasty.

See also

History of Tibet aspect of history

Tibetan history, as it has been recorded, is particularly focused on the history of Buddhism in Tibet. This is partly due to the pivotal role this religion has played in the development of Tibetan and Mongol cultures and partly because almost all native historians of the country were Buddhist monks.

Sino-Tibetan relations during the Ming dynasty analysis of relations between China and Tibet during the Ming Dynasty

The exact nature of relations between Tibet and the Ming dynasty of China (1368–1644) is unclear. Analysis of the relationship is further complicated by modern political conflicts and the application of Westphalian sovereignty to a time when the concept did not exist. Some Mainland Chinese scholars such as Wang Jiawei and Tibetan scholars such as Nyima Gyaincain, assert that the Ming dynasty had unquestioned sovereignty over Tibet, pointing to the Ming court's issuing of various titles to Tibetan leaders, Tibetans' full acceptance of these titles, and a renewal process for successors of these titles that involved traveling to the Ming capital. Scholars within China also argue that Tibet has been an integral part of China since the 13th century and that it was thus a part of the Ming Empire. But most scholars outside China, such as Turrell V. Wylie, Melvin C. Goldstein, and Helmut Hoffman, say that the relationship was one of suzerainty, that Ming titles were only nominal, that Tibet remained an independent region outside Ming control, and that it simply paid tribute until the Jiajing Emperor (1521–1566), who ceased relations with Tibet.

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Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen was a key figure in Tibetan History. He was the founder of the Phagmodrupa Dynasty which replaced the old Mongol-backed Sakya regime, ending the Tibet under Yuan rule. He ruled most of Tibet as desi (regent) from 1354 to 1364, and as a law-giver, politician and religious patron, he created a heritage that lasted for centuries.

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References

  1. ↑ Gray Tuttle & Kurtis R. Schaeffer (eds), The Tibetan history reader. New York 2013, p. 285.
  2. ↑ However, the king-list in Sarat Chandra Das, 'Contributions on the religion, history &c of Tibet', Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 50 1881, p. 245, states that Ngawang Drakpa Gyaltsen was succeeded by Kagyud Nampar Gyalwa.
  3. ↑ Olaf Czaja, Medieval rule in Tibet, Vol. I. Wien 2013, p. 304.
  4. ↑ Fifth Dalai Lama, A History of Tibet. Bloomington: Indiana University 1995, p. 191.
  5. ↑ Olaf Czaja, 2013, pp. 305–12.
Preceded by
Ngawang Drakpa Gyaltsen 		Ruler in Tibet
1604–1613 		Succeeded by
Mipham Sonam Wangchuk Drakpa Namgyal Palzang
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