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The Shabdrung (also Zhabdrung; Tibetan: ཞབས་དྲུང།; Wylie: Zhabs-drung) is the most important tulku lineage in Bhutan, equivalent in many ways to the Dalai Lama lineage of Tibet.

Contents 1 Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal 2 Decline of the Shabdrung institution 3 Shabdrung deposed and exiled 4 List of successive Shabdrungs 5 Note 6 External links

The lineage traces through the founder of the country, Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (b. 1594-d. 1651), a high Drukpa Kagyu lama from Tibet who was the first to unify the warring valley kingdoms under a single rule. He is revered as the third most important figure behind Guru Rimpoche and the Buddha. Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal established the system of dual government. Under this system, political power was vested in an administrative leader, the Druk Desi, assisted by a collection of local governors or ministers called penlops. A religious leader, the Je Khempo, held power over monastic affairs. Successive incarnations of the Shabdrung were to have ultimate authority over both spheres.

However, after the death of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in 1651, power effectively passed to the penlops instead of to a successor Shabdrung. In order to forestall a dynastic struggle and a return to warlordism, they conspired to keep the death of the Shabdrung secret for 54 years. During this time they issued orders in his name, explaining that he was on an extended silent retreat.

Eventually, the ruling authorities were faced with the problem of succession. To neutralize the power of future Shabdrung incarnations, the Druk Desi, Je Khenpo and penlops conspired to recognize not a single person but rather as three separate persons -- a body incarnation, a mind incarnation, and a speech incarnation. In spite of their efforts to consolidate the power established by the original Shabdrung, the country sank into warring factionalism for the next 200 years. The body incarnation lineage died out in the mid-18th century, while the mind and speech incarnations of the Shabdrung continued into the 20th century.

In 1907, in an effort to reform the dysfunctional system, the penlops orchestrated the establishment of a Bhutanese monarchy with Ugyen Wangchuck, the penlop of Trongsa installed as hereditary king, with the support of Britain and against the wishes of Tibet. The royal family suffered from questions of legitimacy in its early years, with the reincarnations of the various Shabdrungs posing a threat. In 1931 when the 6th Shabdrung, Jigme Dorji, made an appeal to Mahatma Gandhi to oust the monarchy, the Shabdrung was assassinated by royalist forces.

In 1962, Jigme Nawang Namgyal (known as Shabdrung Rimpoche to his followers), the last of the Shabdrung incarnations , fled Bhutan for India where he spent the remainder of his life. Up until 2002, Bhutanese pilgrims were able to journey to Kalimpong, just south of Bhutan, to visit with the Master. In April 5, 2003, the Shabdrung died. Some of his followers claim he was poisoned, while Indian newspapers took pains to explain he died after an extended bout with cancer.

In early 2007, reports alleged that the current Shabdrung, Pema Namgyel, who is a small child, has been held under house arrest in Bhutan along with his parents since 2005.[1]

Ruled	Name	Lived
1616 - 1651	Ngawang Namgyal	b. 1594 - d. 1651
	(gap)
1698 - 1712	Kunga Gyaltshen	b. 1689 - d. 1713
1712 - 1729	Phyogla Namgyal	b. 1708 - d. 1736
1730 - 1735	Jigme Norbu	b. 1717 - d. 1735
1735 - 1738	Mipham Wangpo	b. 1709 - d. 1738
1738 - 1761	Jigme Dragpa I	b. 1724 - d. 1761
1762 - 1788	Choeki Gyaltshen	b. 1762 - d. 1788
1791 - 1830	Jigme Dragpa II	b. 1791 - d. 1830
1831 - 1861	Jigme Norbu	b. 1831 - d. 1861
1862 - 1904	Jigme Chogyal	b. 1862 - d. 1904
1905 - 1931	Jigme Dorji	b. 1905 - d. 1931
???? - 2003	Jigme Nawang Namgyal	b. 1955 - d. 2003

Traditions states that Ngawang Namgyal was the first Shabdrung, that the lineage traces back farther in Tibetan history through Pema Karpo,

• Bhutan News Online
• The Bhutan Today - Source for birth of Jigme Nawang Namgyal (1955)