List of rulers of Bhutan
Encyclopedia
Bhutan
was founded and unified as a country by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in the mid–17th century. After his death in 1651, Bhutan nominally followed his recommended "dual system of government
." Under the dual system, government control was split between a civil administrative leader, the Druk Desi
(Dzongkha: འབྲུག་སྡེ་སྲིད་; Wylie
: 'brug sde-srid; also called "Deb Raja");The original title is Dzongkha: སྡེ་སྲིད་ཕྱག་མཛོད་; Wylie
: sde-srid phyag-mdzod. and a religious leader, the Je Khenpo
(Dzongkha: རྗེ་མཁན་པོ་; Wylie
: rje mkhan-po). Both the Druk Desi and Je Khenpo were under the nominal authority of the Shabdrung
(Dzongkha: ཞབས་དྲུང།; Wylie
: zhabs-drung), a reincarnation of Ngawang Namgyal. In practice however, the Shabdrung was often a child under the control of the Druk Desi, and regional penlop
s (governors) often administered their districts in defiance of the power of the Druk Desis until the rise of the unified Wangchuck monarchy
in 1907.
s throughout the existence of the office. Officeholders were initially appointed by Shabdrung
Ngawang Namgyal
, though after his death the Je Khenpo
and civil government decided appointments.
Italics indicate coregencies and caretaker governments, which are not traditionally separately numbered.
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
was founded and unified as a country by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in the mid–17th century. After his death in 1651, Bhutan nominally followed his recommended "dual system of government
Dual system of government
The Dual System of Government or Cho-sid-nyi is the traditional diarchal political system of Tibetan peoples whereby the Desi coexists with the spiritual authority of the realm, usually unified under a third single ruler. The actual distribution of power between institutions varied over time and...
." Under the dual system, government control was split between a civil administrative leader, the Druk Desi
Druk Desi
The Druk Desi ;The original title is Dzongkha: སྡེ་སྲིད་ཕྱག་མཛོད་; Wylie: sde-srid phyag-mdzod. was the title of the secular rulers of Bhutan under the dual system of government between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries...
(Dzongkha: འབྲུག་སྡེ་སྲིད་; Wylie
Wylie transliteration
The Wylie transliteration scheme 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...
: 'brug sde-srid; also called "Deb Raja");The original title is Dzongkha: སྡེ་སྲིད་ཕྱག་མཛོད་; Wylie
Wylie transliteration
The Wylie transliteration scheme 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...
: sde-srid phyag-mdzod. and a religious leader, the Je Khenpo
Je Khenpo
The Je Khenpo , formerly called the Dharma Raj by orientalists, is the title given to the senior religious hierarch of Bhutan. His primary duty is to lead the Dratshang Lhentshog of Bhutan, which oversees the Central Monastic Body, and to arbitrate on matters of doctrine, assisted by lopons...
(Dzongkha: རྗེ་མཁན་པོ་; Wylie
Wylie transliteration
The Wylie transliteration scheme 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...
: rje mkhan-po). Both the Druk Desi and Je Khenpo were under the nominal authority of the Shabdrung
Shabdrung
Shabdrung , was a title used when referring to or addressing great lamas in Tibet, particularly those who held a hereditary lineage...
(Dzongkha: ཞབས་དྲུང།; Wylie
Wylie transliteration
The Wylie transliteration scheme 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...
: zhabs-drung), a reincarnation of Ngawang Namgyal. In practice however, the Shabdrung was often a child under the control of the Druk Desi, and regional penlop
Penlop
Penlop is a Dzongkha term roughly translated as governor. Bhutanese penlops, prior to unification, controlled certain districts of the country, but now hold no administrative office...
s (governors) often administered their districts in defiance of the power of the Druk Desis until the rise of the unified Wangchuck monarchy
House of Wangchuck
The House of Wangchuck has ruled Bhutan since it was reunified in 1907. Prior to reunification, the Wangchuck family had governed the district of Trongsa as descendants of Dungkar Choji. They eventually overpowered other regional lords and earned the favour of the British Empire...
in 1907.
Druk Desis (1650–1905)
Below appears the list of Druk DesiDruk Desi
The Druk Desi ;The original title is Dzongkha: སྡེ་སྲིད་ཕྱག་མཛོད་; Wylie: sde-srid phyag-mdzod. was the title of the secular rulers of Bhutan under the dual system of government between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries...
s throughout the existence of the office. Officeholders were initially appointed by Shabdrung
Shabdrung
Shabdrung , was a title used when referring to or addressing great lamas in Tibet, particularly those who held a hereditary lineage...
Ngawang Namgyal
Ngawang Namgyal
Ngawang Namgyal was a Tibetan Buddhist lama and the unifier of Bhutan as a nation state...
, though after his death the Je Khenpo
Je Khenpo
The Je Khenpo , formerly called the Dharma Raj by orientalists, is the title given to the senior religious hierarch of Bhutan. His primary duty is to lead the Dratshang Lhentshog of Bhutan, which oversees the Central Monastic Body, and to arbitrate on matters of doctrine, assisted by lopons...
and civil government decided appointments.
Italics indicate coregencies and caretaker governments, which are not traditionally separately numbered.
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| 1 | Tenzin Drukgye Bhutan Bhutan Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China... was founded and unified as a country by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in the mid–17th century. After his death in 1651, Bhutan nominally followed his recommended "dual system of government Dual system of government The Dual System of Government or Cho-sid-nyi is the traditional diarchal political system of Tibetan peoples whereby the Desi coexists with the spiritual authority of the realm, usually unified under a third single ruler. The actual distribution of power between institutions varied over time and... ." Under the dual system, government control was split between a civil administrative leader, the Druk Desi Druk Desi The Druk Desi ;The original title is Dzongkha: སྡེ་སྲིད་ཕྱག་མཛོད་; Wylie: sde-srid phyag-mdzod. was the title of the secular rulers of Bhutan under the dual system of government between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries... (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་སྡེ་སྲིད་; Wylie Wylie transliteration The Wylie transliteration scheme 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... : 'brug sde-srid; also called "Deb Raja");The original title is Dzongkha: སྡེ་སྲིད་ཕྱག་མཛོད་; Wylie Wylie transliteration The Wylie transliteration scheme 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... : sde-srid phyag-mdzod. and a religious leader, the Je Khenpo Je Khenpo The Je Khenpo , formerly called the Dharma Raj by orientalists, is the title given to the senior religious hierarch of Bhutan. His primary duty is to lead the Dratshang Lhentshog of Bhutan, which oversees the Central Monastic Body, and to arbitrate on matters of doctrine, assisted by lopons... (Dzongkha: རྗེ་མཁན་པོ་; Wylie Wylie transliteration The Wylie transliteration scheme 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... : rje mkhan-po). Both the Druk Desi and Je Khenpo were under the nominal authority of the Shabdrung Shabdrung Shabdrung , was a title used when referring to or addressing great lamas in Tibet, particularly those who held a hereditary lineage... (Dzongkha: ཞབས་དྲུང།; Wylie Wylie transliteration The Wylie transliteration scheme 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... : zhabs-drung), a reincarnation of Ngawang Namgyal. In practice however, the Shabdrung was often a child under the control of the Druk Desi, and regional penlop Penlop Penlop is a Dzongkha term roughly translated as governor. Bhutanese penlops, prior to unification, controlled certain districts of the country, but now hold no administrative office... s (governors) often administered their districts in defiance of the power of the Druk Desis until the rise of the unified Wangchuck monarchy House of Wangchuck The House of Wangchuck has ruled Bhutan since it was reunified in 1907. Prior to reunification, the Wangchuck family had governed the district of Trongsa as descendants of Dungkar Choji. They eventually overpowered other regional lords and earned the favour of the British Empire... in 1907. Druk Desis (1650–1905)Below appears the list of Druk DesiDruk Desi The Druk Desi ;The original title is Dzongkha: སྡེ་སྲིད་ཕྱག་མཛོད་; Wylie: sde-srid phyag-mdzod. was the title of the secular rulers of Bhutan under the dual system of government between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries... s throughout the existence of the office. Officeholders were initially appointed by Shabdrung Shabdrung Shabdrung , was a title used when referring to or addressing great lamas in Tibet, particularly those who held a hereditary lineage... Ngawang Namgyal Ngawang Namgyal Ngawang Namgyal was a Tibetan Buddhist lama and the unifier of Bhutan as a nation state... , though after his death the Je Khenpo Je Khenpo The Je Khenpo , formerly called the Dharma Raj by orientalists, is the title given to the senior religious hierarch of Bhutan. His primary duty is to lead the Dratshang Lhentshog of Bhutan, which oversees the Central Monastic Body, and to arbitrate on matters of doctrine, assisted by lopons... and civil government decided appointments. Italics indicate coregencies and caretaker governments, which are not traditionally separately numbered.
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