Ngawang Drakpa Gyaltsen

Ngawang Drakpa (Gyaltsen) (Tibetan: ངག་དབང་གྲགས་པ་རྒྱལ་མཚན, Wylie: Ngag dbang grags pa rgyal mts'an, d. 1603 or 1604) 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.

Ngawang Drakpa Gyaltsen was the son of Drowai Gonpo (1508–1548), a sub-ruler who resided in Gongri Karpo to the south-west of Lhasa. His grandfather was Ngawang Tashi Drakpa (1488–1564), the last effective king of the Phagmodrupa line. The main palace of the dynasty was Nêdong southeast of Lhasa. In 1554 Ngawang Drakpa Gyaltsen temporarily took over the throne of his old grandfather, when the latter was forced to step down for a while. However, new turmoil broke out in Central Tibet in 1555. A council was headed by the religious hierarchs of Drigung Kagyu and Shamarpa, and it was decided to put the old ex-king back on the throne. Ngawang Drakpa Gyaltsen had to return to Gongri Karpo. Some years later he rose against the 75-year-old ruler and tried to acquire the throne permanently. He was aided in his ambitions by the ruler of Ganden. He also kept good relations with Sonam Gyatso, later known as the Third Dalai Lama. A number of Buddhist dignitaries tried to intervene in the rebellion, to no avail. In the next year 1564, his grandfather died. New disturbances broke out between the Nêdong and Gongri Karpo branches of the dynasty. Sonam Gyatso was asked to mediate in the conflict. Eventually Ngawang Drakpa Gyaltsen became the new gongma or king in 1576. However, the executive authority of the Phagmodrupa was now almost depleted. Nevertheless, the Phagmodrupa still filled a role as a focal point around which politics in Ü (East Central Tibet) revolved and different groups balanced each other. Conditions in this part of Tibet tended to be relatively peaceful in the decades of the late sixteenth century, and relations between the main religious sects Karmapa and Gelugpa were amiable for the moment.

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