Kagyud Nampar Gyalwa

Who is Kagyud Nampar Gyalwa?

Kagyud Nampar Gyalwa was a king in Central Tibet. He belonged to the Phagmodrupa dynasty which reigned in Tibet or parts of it from 1354 to the early 17th century. He was the penultimate ruler of the line.

Kagyud Nampar Gyalwa was a son of the preceding ruler of the dynasty, Ngawang Drakpa Gyaltsen. He took over the throne in Nêdong, southeast of Lhasa, after the demise of his father, possibly in 1579. According the chronicles of the Fifth Dalai Lama, he "opened wide the doors of both religious and secular knowledge but paid special attention to the doctrines of Absolute Truth, such as Mahamudra". By this time the dynasty had almost ceased to wield any executive power in Tibet. His reign is the most obscure of all in the history of the Phagmodrupa, and there is very little information about his actions in the chronicles. Chinese sources are at variance with the Tibetan ones, since they say that a ruler called Zhashi Cangbu flourished at this time.

During his time the Third Dalai Lama, a friend of the Phagmodrupa, strengthened his ties with the Tümed Mongols. After his death in 1588 a Mongol prince was identified as the new Dalai Lama. The boy, Yonten Gyatso, stayed in Mongolia for several years, although many Tibetans appealed to his family to let him travel to Tibet. Kagyud Nampar Gyalwa wrote a poem in 33 verses where he appealed to the young boy:

"Please become a monk and come here,

To this temple where apparitions are displayed,

To Ü Tsang, the purified land that has been cleansed hundreds of times,

By the river current of words of Indian and Tibetan scholars.

Take the place of your previous incarnation

On the fearless Snow Lion Throne,

And ceaselessly turn the wheel of dharma through a hundred eons."

Actually the fourth Dalai Lama only came to Tibet in 1601. By this time Kagyud Nampar Gyalwa was dead, since Yonten Gyatso was greeted by his son and successor Mipham Sonam Wangchuk Drakpa Namgyal Palzang.