Tenzing Namgyal

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Tenzing Namgyal
Chogyal Tenzing Namgyal.jpg
Illustration of Tenzing Namgyal
Chogyal of Sikkim
Reign1780 – 1793
Predecessor Phuntsog Namgyal II
Successor Tsugphud Namgyal
Born1769
Died1793
SpouseAnyo Karwang
Issue Tsugphud Namgyal
House Namgyal dynasty
Father Phuntsog Namgyal II
Religion Buddhism

Tenzing Namgyal (Sikkimese: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་; Wylie: bstan 'dzin rnam rgyal) was the sixth Chogyal (king) of Sikkim. He succeeded Phuntsog Namgyal II in 1780 and was succeeded himself by Tsugphud Namgyal in 1793. [1]

In 1775, possibly with Bhutanese support, Sikkim was invaded by the ascendant Gorkha Empire, Tibet mediated a peace treaty between Nepal and Sikkim that forbade the Gorkhas from collaborating with the Bhutanese or making any moves against Sikkim. In 1778, the Nepalese ruler Pratap Singh Shah broke the terms of the treaty and attacked Sikkim. The Nepalese would occupy Sikkim for four years, annexing a considerable part of its western territories, and the Chogyal was exiled to Tibet for the remainder of his reign. Following the Sino-Nepalese War, the 1792 peace treaty forced the Gorkhas to leave Sikkim, though the lost western territories were not restored (though the 1817 Treaty of Titalia would return some lands to Sikkim, establishing the current Nepalese-Sikkimese border) and Sikkim additionally ceded the Chumbi Valley to Tibet, though the Sikkimese retained estates there. [2]

References

  1. Sikkim: Past and Present edited by H. G. Joshi
  2. Kazi, Jigme N. (2020). Sons of Sikkim. Chennai: Notion Press. pp. 94–104.
Tenzing Namgyal
Born: 1769 Died: 1793
Regnal titles
Preceded by Chogyal of Sikkim
1780–1793
Succeeded by