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Bhutan Administrative Integration and Conflict with Tibet, 1651- 1728
To keep Bhutan from disintegrating, Ngawang Namgyal's
death in
1651 apparently was kept a carefully guarded secret for
fifty-four
years. Initially, Ngawang Namgyal was said to have entered
into a
religious retreat, a situation not unprecedented in
Bhutan, Sikkim,
or Tibet during that time. During the period of Ngawang
Namgyal's
supposed retreat, appointments of officials were issued in
his
name, and food was left in front of his locked door.
Ngawang Namgyal's son and stepbrother, in 1651 and
1680,
respectively, succeeded him. They started their reigns as
minors
under the control of religious and civil regents and
rarely
exercised authority in their own names. For further
continuity, the
concept of multiple reincarnation of the first
shabdrung--in
the form of either his body, his speech, or his mind--was
invoked
by the Je Khenpo and the druk desi, both of whom
wanted to
retain the power they had accrued through the dual system
of
government. The last person recognized as the bodily
reincarnation
of Ngawang Namgyal died in the mid-eighteenth century, but
speech
and mind reincarnations, embodied by individuals who
acceded to the
position of shabdrung, were recognized into the
early
twentieth century. The power of the state religion also
increased
with a new monastic code that remained in effect in the
early
1990s. The compulsory admission to monastic life of at
least one
son from any family having three or more sons was
instituted in the
late seventeenth century. In time, however, the State
Council
became increasingly secular as did the successive druk
desi,
ponlop, and dzongpon, and intense rivalries
developed
among the ponlop of Tongsa and Paro and the
dzongpon
of Punakha, Thimphu, and Wangdiphodrang.
During the first period of succession and further
internal
consolidation under the druk desi government, there
was
conflict with Tibet and Sikkim. Internal opposition to the
central
government resulted in overtures by the opponents of the
druk
desi to Tibet and Sikkim. In the 1680s, Bhutan invaded
Sikkim
in pursuit of a rebellious local lord. In 1700 Bhutan
again invaded
Sikkim, and in 1714 Tibetan forces, aided by Mongolia,
invaded
Bhutan but were unable to gain control.
Data as of September 1991
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