The Namgyal dynasty was a dynasty whose rulers were the monarchs of the former kingdom of

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu a ...

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 The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

and various dynasties of

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

, including the Tibet–Ladakh–Mughal War. The dynasty eventually fell to the Sikh Empire and

Dogra The Dogras or Dogra people, are an Indo-Aryan ethno-linguistic group in India and Pakistan consisting of the Dogri language speakers. They live predominantly in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, and in adjoining areas of Punjab, Himac ...

s of

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

. Most of its known history is written in the ''

Ladakh Chronicles 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 th ...

''.

History

Founding

According to the ''

'', the Namgyal dynasty was founded by

Bhagan Lhachen Bhagan was a Basgo king who united Ladakh in 1460 by overthrowing the king of Leh. He took on the surname Namgyal (meaning victorious) and founded the Namgyal dynasty of Ladakh. Founding of the Namgyal dynasty According to the '' Ladakh ...

, the son of Bhara in the kingdom of

Maryul Maryul (also called ''Mar-yul'' of ''mNgah-ris''), later the Kingdom of Ladakh, was a west Tibetan kingdom based in modern-day Ladakh and Tibet. The kingdom had its capital at Shey. The kingdom was founded by Lhachen Palgyigon, during the rul ...

. Bhagan was described as warlike, and established the Namgyal dynasty in 1460 after he formed an alliance with the people of

Leh Leh () ( lbj, ) is the joint capital and largest city of Ladakh, a union territory of India. Leh, located in the Leh district, was also the historical capital of the Kingdom of Ladakh, the seat of which was in the Leh Palace, the former ...

and dethroned the Maryul king Blo-gros-mc-og-ldan and his brothers drun-pa A-li and Slab-bstan-dar-rgyas. He took the surname Namgyal (meaning victorious) and founded a new dynasty which still survives today. King Tashi Namgyal (1555-1575) managed to repel most

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...

n raiders, and built a royal fort on the top of the Namgyal Peak. Tsewang Namgyal temporarily extended his kingdom as far as

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

The Empire of King Nyimagon with three divisions about 975 A

Expansion

Sengge Namgyal (r. 1616-1642), known as the "Lion" King, made efforts to restore Ladakh to its old glory by an ambitious and energetic building program including the

Leh Palace Leh Palace also known as Lachen Palkar Palace is a former royal palace overlooking the city of Leh in Ladakh, India. It was constructed circa 1600 by Sengge Namgyal. The palace was abandoned when Dogra forces took control of Ladakh in the mid ...

and the rebuilding of several

gompas A Gompa or Gönpa ( "remote place", Sanskrit ''araṇya''), also known as ling (), is a Buddhist ecclesiastical fortification of learning, lineage and sādhanā that may be understood as a conflation of a fortification, a vihara and a universit ...

, the most famous of which are

Hemis Hemis, also spelled Hamis, is a village in the Leh district of Ladakh, India. It is located in the Kharu tehsil, 40 km southeast of Leh town on the Leh-Manali Highway and under-construction Bilaspur–Leh line. Hemis is well known for t ...

and Hanle. He expanded the kingdom into

Zanskar Zanskar, Zahar (locally) or Zangskar, is a tehsil of Kargil district, in the Indian union territory of Ladakh. The administrative centre is Padum (former Capital of Zanskar). Zanskar, together with the neighboring region of Ladakh, was brief ...

and Spiti, but was defeated by the Mughals, who had already occupied Kashmir and Baltistan. His son Deldan Namgyal (1642-1694) had to placate the Mughal emperor

Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...

by building a mosque in

. However, he defeated the Mughal army in Baltistan. His son Delek sided with

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...

in a religious dispute between

and Bhutan, which resulted in an attempted invasion by the

fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (; ; 1617–1682) was the 5th Dalai Lama and the first Dalai Lama to wield effective temporal and spiritual power over all Tibet. He is often referred to simply as the Great Fifth, being a key religious and temporal leader ...

. The Moghuls withdrew after being paid off by the 5th Dalai Lama. With the help of reinforcements from

Galdan Boshugtu Khan Erdeniin Galdan (1644–1697, mn, Галдан Бошигт хаан, , ), known as Galdan Boshugtu Khan (in Mongolian script: ) was a Choros Dzungar- Oirat Khan of the Dzungar Khanate. As fourth son of Erdeni Batur, founder of the Dzungar ...

, Khan of the Zungar Empire, the Tibetans attacked again in 1684. The Tibetans were victorious and concluded a treaty with Ladakh then they retreated back to

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhasa ...

in December 1684. The Treaty of Temisgam in 1684 settled the dispute between Tibet and Ladakh, but its independence was seriously restricted.

Downfall

The Namgyal dynasty ended in 1842 after a surprise invasion of Ladakh by Zorawar Singh Kahluria By the beginning of the 19th century, the Mughal empire had collapsed and Sikh rule had been established in

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi Language, Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also Romanization, romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the I ...

and Kashmir. However the Dogra region of Jammu remained under its Rajput rulers (who ruled under the maharaja ranjit singh) Rajput ruler were given the control of their states but under the name of Punjab and they were part of khalsa empire, General Zorawar Singh invaded Ladakh in 1834. King Tshespal Namgyal was dethroned and exiled to

Stok Stok is a village in the Leh district of Ladakh, India. It is located in the Leh tehsil, in the Indus Valley 17 km southeast of the Leh town. The village is home to the 14th century Stok Monastery, with its high seated Gautama Buddha sta ...

where they still had a small jagir until the post independence

political integration of India After the Indian independence in 1947, the dominion of India was divided into two sets of territories, one under direct British rule, and the other under the suzerainty of the British Crown, with control over their internal affairs remainin ...

List of kings

The kings of Namgyal dynasty along with their periods of reign are as follows: #

Lhachen Bhagan Lhachen Bhagan was a Basgo king who united Ladakh in 1460 by overthrowing the king of Leh. He took on the surname Namgyal (meaning victorious) and founded the Namgyal dynasty of Ladakh. Founding of the Namgyal dynasty According to the ''Ladakh ...

(c. 1460-1485) #Unknown (c. 1485-1510) #Lata Jughdan (c. 1510-1535) #Kunga Namgyal I (c. 1535-1555) #Tashi Namgyal (BKra‐śis‐rnam‐rgyal'', c. 1555-1575) son #Tsewang Namgyal I (''Ts'e-dbaṅ‐rnam‐rgyal'', c. 1575-1595) nephew #Namgyal Gonpo (''rNam-rgyal-mgon-po'', c. 1595-1600) brother # Jamyang Namgyal (''Jams-dbyang-rnam-rgyal'', c. 1595-1616) brother # Sengge Namgyal (''Seng-ge-rnam-rgyal'', first time, 1616–1623) son #Norbu Namgyal (1623–1624) brother # Sengge Namgyal (second time, 1624–1642) #Deldan Namgyal (''Bde-ldan-rnam-rgyal'', 1642-1694) son #Delek Namgyal (''Bde-legs-rnam-rgyal'', c. 1680-1691) son #Nyima Namgyal (''Ñi-ma-rnam-rgyal'', 1694-1729) son #Deskyong Namgyal (''Bde‐skyoṅ‐rnam‐rgyal'', 1729–1739) son #Phuntsog Namgyal (''P'un‐ts'ogs‐rnam‐rgyal'', 1739–1753) son #Tsewang Namgyal II (''Ts'e‐dbaṅ-rnam‐rgyal'', 1753–1782) son #Tseten Namgyal (''Ts'e‐brtan‐rnam‐rgyal'', 1782-1802) son # Tsepal Dondup Namgyal (''Ts'e‐dpal‐don‐grub‐rnam‐rgyal'', 1802–1837, 1839–1840) brother #Kunga Namgyal II (''Kun‐dga'‐rnam‐rgyal'', 1840–1842) grandson

Gallery

File:Leh Palace 2011.jpg, Leh Palace File:Namgyal Palace in Stok.jpg, The Stok Royal Palace, residence of the Namgyal dynasty, former rulers of the former Ladakh kingdom, now

, Indian Union Territory

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

History of Ladakh
{{Ladakh Rulers of Ladakh History of Ladakh History of Tibet Former countries in Chinese history Former monarchies of Asia Tibetan Buddhist places History of Sikkim