Sengge Namgyal

Last updated

Sengge Namgyal
Gyalpo of Ladakh
Reign1616 - 1642 CE
Predecessor Jamyang Namgyal
Successor Deldan Namgyal
House Namgyal dynasty of Ladakh
Father Jamyang Namgyal
MotherGyal Khatun
Religion Buddhism
The Leh Palace, built by Sengge Namgyal Leh Palace 2011.jpg
The Leh Palace, built by Sengge Namgyal

Sengge Namgyal (Ladakhi: སེང་གེ་རྣམ་རྒྱལ, Wylie: seng-ge rnam-rgyal, c. 1570–1642) was a 17th-century Namgyal dynasty King of Ladakh, from 1616 to his death in 1642. A Buddhist, he was noted for his immense work in building monasteries, palaces and shrines in Ladakh and is known as the "Lion King".

Contents

Biography

Hemis monastery courtyard Hamis Gonpa on a rainy day.JPG
Hemis monastery courtyard

Sengge was born to Jamyang Namgyal and a Balti mother, Gyal Khatun. He was a devout Buddhist. [1] [2]

In his youth, he showed great martial skill and a flair for command. Talents which got him the command of the army. In 1614, he captured the mining town of Rudok followed by Spurangs, another important gold mining town, in 1615. The plunder and the output from these towns financed the building projects he would later commission as the King. In 1616, on the death of his father, Jamyang Namgyal, he ascended to the throne. He completed the conquests of Kingdom of Ngaris after a brief siege of Guge castle (Tsaparang) in 1619. [3]

Hanle Gompa, built by Sengge and Stag-tsang-ras-pa, soon after his conversion to the Drugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism Hanlegompa.jpg
Hanle Gompa, built by Sengge and Stag-tsang-ras-pa, soon after his conversion to the Drugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leh</span> City in Indian-administered Ladakh, Kashmir region

Leh is a city in Indian State of Ladakh. It is the largest city and the joint capital of Ladakh. Leh, located in the Leh district, was also the historical capital of the Kingdom of Ladakh. The seat of the kingdom, Leh Palace, the former residence of the royal family of Ladakh, was built in the same style and about the same time as the Potala Palace in Tibet. Since they were both constructed in a similar style and at roughly the same time, the Potala Palace in Tibet and Leh Palace, the royal residence, are frequently contrasted. Leh is at an altitude of 3,524 m (11,562 ft), and is connected via National Highway 1 to Srinagar in the southwest and to Manali in the south via the Leh-Manali Highway.

The Drukpa or Drukpa Kagyu lineage, sometimes called Dugpa in older sources, is a branch of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Kagyu school is one of the Sarma or "New Translation" schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The Drukpa lineage was founded in the Tsang region of Tibet by Tsangpa Gyare (1161–1211), and later became influential in Ladakh and Bhutan. It is one of several lineages known as "Red Hat sects".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kargil district</span> District of Indian-administered Ladakh, Kashmir region

Kargil district is a district in Indian-administered Ladakh in the disputed Kashmir-region. It is one of the two districts comprising the Indian-administered union territory of Ladakh. The district headquarters are in the city of Kargil. The district is bounded by the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir to the west, the Pakistani-administered administrative territory of Gilgit–Baltistan to the north, Ladakh's Leh district to the east, and the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh to the south. Encompassing three historical regions known as Purig, Dras and Zanskar, the district lies to the northeast of the Great Himalayas and encompasses the majority of the Zanskar Range. Its population inhabits the river valleys of the Dras, Suru, Wakha Rong, and Zanskar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ngawang Namgyal</span> Bhutanese Lama (1594–1651)

Ngawang Namgyal (1594–1651), known colloquially as The Bearded Lama, was a Tibetan Buddhist Drikung Kagyu school Rinpoche, and the unifier of Bhutan as a nation-state. He was later granted the honorific title Zhabdrung Rinpoche, approximately "at whose feet one submits"). In addition to unifying the various warring fiefdoms for the first time in the 1630s, he also sought to create a distinct Bhutanese cultural identity separate from the Tibetan culture from which it was derived.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chogyal</span> Monarchs of the former kingdoms of Sikkim and Ladakh in present-day India

The Chogyal were the monarchs of the former Kingdom of Sikkim, which belonged to the Namgyal dynasty. The Chogyal was the absolute monarch of Sikkim from 1642 to 1973, and the constitutional monarch from 1973 to 1975, when the monarchy was abolished and the Sikkimese people voted in a referendum to make Sikkim the 22nd state of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Ladakh</span> Aspect of history

Ladakh has a long history with evidence of human settlement from as back as 9000 b.c. It has been a crossroad of high Asia for thousands of years and has seen many cultures, empires and technologies born in its neighbours. As a result of these developments Ladakh has imported many traditions and culture from its neighbours and combining them all gave rise to a unique tradition and culture of its own.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Namgyal dynasty of Ladakh</span> Monarchs of the former Ladakh kingdom

The Namgyal dynasty was a dynasty whose rulers were the monarchs of the former kingdom of Ladakh that lasted from 1460 to 1842 and were titled the Gyalpo of Ladakh. The Namgyal dynasty succeeded the first dynasty of Maryul and had several conflicts with the neighboring Mughal Empire and various dynasties of Tibet, including the Tibet–Ladakh–Mughal War. The dynasty eventually fell to the Sikh Empire and Dogras of Jammu. Most of its known history is written in the Ladakh Chronicles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanle (village)</span> Village in Ladakh, India

Hanle is a large historic village in the Indian union territory of Ladakh. The revenue village of Hanle comprises six hamlets — Bhok, Dhado, Punguk, Khuldo, Naga and Tibetan Refugee habitation —within 1073 sq km Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary in Changthang plateau. It is the site of the 17th-century Hanle Monastery (gompa) of the Drukpa Kagyu branch of Tibetan Buddhism. Hanle is located in the Hanle River valley on an old branch of the ancient Ladakh–Tibet trade route. Hanle is the home of Hanle observatory, the tenth highest optical telescope in the world in India's first dark-sky preserve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chemrey Monastery</span>

Chemrey Monastery or Chemrey Gompa in Indus River valley is a 1664 Buddhist monastery in Leh district of Ladakh in northern India. It is 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) north of Hemis Monastery, 46 kilometres (29 mi) southeast of Leh and 24 kilometres (15 mi) northwest of Upshi. It belongs to the Drugpa monastic order. It was founded in 1664 by the Lama Tagsang Raschen and dedicated to King Sengge Namgyal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shey Monastery</span> Building in India

Shey Monastery or Gompa and the Shey Palace complex are structures located on a hillock in Shey, 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) to the south of Leh in Ladakh, northern India on the Leh-Manali road. Shey was the summer capital of Ladakh in the past. It contains a huge Shakyamuni Buddha statue. It is the second largest Buddha statue in Ladakh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hanle Monastery</span>

Hanle Monastery is a 17th-century gompa of the Drukpa Lineage of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism located in the Hanle Valley, Leh district, Ladakh, India on an old branch of the ancient Ladakh-Tibet trade route. The valley is home to about a thousand people, with about 300 people living in Hanle village. The monastery is home to about ten monks while another 33 or so come regularly for prayers. It is only 19 kilometres (12 mi) from the disputed frontier between India and Chinese-controlled Tibet. It is 255 km southeast of Leh, 208 km southeast of Upshi & 75 km southeast of Nyoma.

Karma Tenkyong, in full Karma Tenkyong Wangpo, was a king of Tibet who ruled from 1620 to 1642. He belonged to the Tsangpa Dynasty which had been prominent in Tsang since 1565. His reign was marked by the increasingly bitter struggle against the Gelugpa sect and its leader the Dalai Lama. The outcome was the crushing of the Tsangpa regime and the establishment of the Dharma-based Tibetan state that endured until 1950.

Maryul also called mar-yul of mnga'-ris, was the western most Tibetan kingdom based in modern-day Ladakh and some parts of Tibet. The kingdom had its capital at Shey.

Events from the year 1570 in India.

Jamyang Namgyal was a 17th-century Namgyal dynasty king (gyalpo) of Ladakh, India from 1595 till his death in 1616 AD. He was succeeded by his son Sengge Namgyal in the year 1616 AD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamyang Tsering Namgyal</span> Indian politician

Jamyang Tsering Namgyal is an Indian politician and Member of Parliament from Ladakh, India's largest parliamentary seat geographically. Namgyal was elected, on 9 November 2018, to be the youngest and 8th Chief Executive Councillor (CEC) of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh. He belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Charding Nullah, traditionally known as the Lhari stream and called Demchok River by China, is a small river that originates near the Charding La pass that is also on the border between the two countries and flows northeast to join the Indus River near a peak called "Demchok Karpo" or "Lhari Karpo". There are villages on both sides of the mouth of the river called by the same name "Demchok", which is presumed to have been a single village originally, and has gotten split into two due to geopolitcal reasons. The river serves as the de facto border between China and India in the southern part of the Demchok sector.

The Ladakh Chronicles, or La-dvags-rgyal-rabs, is a historical work that covers the history of Ladakh from the beginnings of the first Tibetan dynasty of Ladakh until the end of the Namgyal dynasty. The chronicles were compiled by the Namgyal dynasty, mostly during the 17th century, and are considered the primary written source for Ladakhi history.

Tashigang (Tibetan: བཀྲ་ཤིས་སྒང་, Wylie: bkra shis sgang, THL: tra shi gang, transl. "auspicious hillock"), with a Chinese spelling Zhaxigang , is a village in the Gar County of the Ngari Prefecture, Tibet. The village forms the central district of the Zhaxigang Township. It houses an ancient monastery dating to the 11th century.

Jamyang is a given name. Notable people with the given name include:

References

  1. Kaul, H. N. (1998). Rediscovery of Ladakh. ISBN   9788173870866.
  2. Singh Jina, Prem (1996). Ladakh: the land and the people. Indus Publishing. p. 77. ISBN   81-7387-057-8.
  3. "Chemrey Gompa". Buddhist-temples.com. Retrieved 9 October 2009.
Sengge Namgyal
Regnal titles
Preceded by Ruler of Ladakh
1616–1642
Succeeded by