>Lancepark at 20:51, 5 July 2021

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{{short description|Monarchs of the former kingdoms of Sikkim and Ladakh in present-day India}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}
{{Infobox former monarchy
| royal_title = Chogyal
| realm = Sikkim
| coatofarms = Seal of Sikkim.svg
| coatofarmssize = 120px
| coatofarmscaption = [[Emblem of Sikkim]]
| image = Palden Thondup Namgyal.jpg
| caption = '''Palden Thondup Namgyal'''
| first_monarch = [[Phuntsog Namgyal]]
| last_monarch = [[Palden Thondup Namgyal]]
| style =
| residence = [[Tsuklakhang Palace]] [[Gangtok]], [[Kingdom of Sikkim|Sikkim]]
| began = 1642
| ended = 16 May 1975
| pretender = [[Wangchuk Namgyal]]
}}

The '''Chogyal''' ("[[Dharma]] Kings", {{bo|t=ཆོས་རྒྱལ|w=chos rgyal}}, [[Sanskrit]]: धर्मराज ''dharmarāja'') were the monarchs of the former kingdom of [[Kingdom of Sikkim|Sikkim]] in present-day [[India]], which belonged to the Namgyal dynasty. The Chogyal was the [[Absolute monarchy|absolute monarch]] of Sikkim from 1642 to 1975, when the monarchy was abolished and its people voted in a [[1975 Sikkimese monarchy referendum|referendum]] to make [[Sikkim]] the 22nd [[States and union territories of India|state]] of [[India]].<ref>{{citation |author=G. T. |title=Trouble in Sikkim |journal=Index on Censorship |volume=4 |pages=68–69 |date=1 March 1975 |doi=10.1080/03064227508532403|s2cid=220927214 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/04/16/archives/sikkim-votes-to-end-monarchy-merge-with-india.html|title=Sikkim Votes to End Monarchy, Merge With India|date=16 April 1975|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=4 September 2020}}</ref>

== History ==
[[File:Guru Rinpoche - Padmasambhava statue.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Statue of Padmasambhava or Guru Rinpoche.]]

From 1642 to 1975, Sikkim was ruled by the Namgyal Monarchy (also called the Chogyal Monarchy), founded by [[Phuntsog Namgyal]], the fifth-generation descendant of [[Guru Tashi]], a prince of the [[Western Xia|Minyak]] House who came to Sikkim from the [[Kham]] province of [[Tibet]].<ref>Measuroo.com States and Territories of India series. Online: [http://www.measuroo.com/Acr-S/Sikkim.php] (accessed: 14 May 2008)</ref> Chogyal means 'righteous ruler', and was the title conferred upon Sikkim's Buddhist kings during the reign of the Namgyal Monarchy.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

The reign of the Chogyal was foretold by the patron saint of Sikkim, [[Padmasambhava|Guru Rinpoche]]. The 8th-century saint had predicted the rule of the kings when he arrived in the state. In 1642, [[Phuntsog Namgyal]] was crowned as Sikkim's first Chogyal in [[Yuksom]]. The crowning of the king was a great event and he was crowned by three revered [[lama]]s who arrived there from three different directions, namely the north, west, and south.

== Chogyal kings of Sikkim ==
=== List of Chogyals ===
[[File:Tsuklakhang.jpg|thumb|right|Tsuklakhang Palace]]

{{Succession table monarch
| name1 = '''[[Phuntsog Namgyal]]'''
| nickname1 = 1st Chogyal
| native1 = {{lang|sip|ཕུན་ཚོག་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་}}
| life1 = 1604–1670 (aged 65–66)
| reignstart1 = 1642
| reignend1 = 1670
| notes1 = {{Smaller|Ascended the throne and was consecrated as the first Chogyal of Sikkim. Made the capital at [[Yuksom]] in West Sikkim.}}
| family1 = Namgyal
| image1 = Norbugang 8a.jpg
| alt1 = Phuntsog Namgyal of Sikkim
| name2 = '''[[Tensung Namgyal]]'''
| nickname2 = 2nd Chogyal
| native2 = {{lang|sip|བསྟན་སྲུང༌རྣམ་རྒྱལ་}}
| life2 = 1644–1700 (aged 55–56)
| reignstart2 = 1670
| reignend2 = 1700
| notes2 = Son of [[Phuntsog Namgyal]]. <hr> {{Smaller|Shifted capital from Yuksom to [[Rabdentse]] which was later destroyed by [[Gurkha]]s.}}
| family2 = Namgyal
| image2 = Sin foto.svg
| alt2 = Tensung Namgyal of Sikkim
| name3 = '''[[Chakdor Namgyal]]'''
| nickname3 = 3rd Chogyal
| native3 = {{lang|sip|ཕྱག་དོར་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་}}
| life3 = 1686–1717 (aged 30–31)
| reignstart3 = 1700
| reignend3 = 1717
| notes3 = {{Smaller|His half-sister Pendiongmu tried to dethrone Chakdor, who fled to [[Lhasa]], but was reinstated as king with the help of [[Tibetan people|Tibetans]].}}
| family3 = Namgyal
| image3 = Sin foto.svg
| alt3 = Chakdor Namgyal of Sikkim
| name4 = '''[[Gyurmed Namgyal]]'''
| nickname4 = 4th Chogyal
| native4 = {{lang|sip|འགྱུར་མེད་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་}}
| life4 = 1707–1733 (aged 25–26)
| reignstart4 = 1717
| reignend4 = 1733
| notes4 = {{Smaller|Sikkim was attacked by [[Nepalis]].}}
| family4 = Namgyal
| image4 = Sin foto.svg
| alt4 = Gyurmed Namgyal of Sikkim
| name5 = '''[[Phuntsog Namgyal II]]'''
| nickname5 = 5th Chogyal
| native5 = {{lang|sip|ཕུན་ཚོག་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་}}
| life5 = 1733–1780 (aged 46–47)
| reignstart5 = 1733
| reignend5 = 1780
| notes5 = {{Smaller|Nepalis raided Rabdentse, the then capital of Sikkim.}}
| family5 = Namgyal
| image5 = Sin foto.svg
| alt5 = Phuntsog Namgyal II of Sikkim
| name6 = '''[[Tenzing Namgyal]]'''
| nickname6 = 6th Chogyal
| native6 = {{lang|sip|བསྟན་འཛིན་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་}}
| life6 = 1769–1793 (aged 23–24)
| reignstart6 = 1780
| reignend6 = 1793
| notes6 = {{Smaller|Fled to [[Tibet under Qing rule|Tibet]], and later died there in exile.}}
| family6 = Namgyal
| image6 = Sin foto.svg
| alt6 = Tenzing Namgyal of Sikkim
| name7 = '''[[Tsugphud Namgyal]]'''
| nickname7 = 7th Chogyal
| native7 = {{lang|sip|གཅུག་ཕུད་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་}}
| life7 = 1785–1863 (aged 77–78)
| reignstart7 = 1793
| reignend7 = 1863
| notes7 = Son of [[Tenzing Namgyal]]. <hr> {{Smaller|The longest-reigning Chogyal of Sikkim. Shifted the capital from Rabdentse to third capital [[Tumlong]]. [[Treaty of Titalia]] in 1817 between Sikkim and [[Company rule in India|British India]] was signed in which territories lost to [[Kingdom of Nepal|Nepal]] were appropriated to Sikkim. [[Darjeeling]] was gifted to British India in 1835. Two [[British people|Britons]], Dr. [[Archibald Campbell (doctor)|Campbell]] and Dr. [[Joseph Dalton Hooker|Hooker]] were captured by the Sikkimese in 1849. Hostilities between [[British Empire|Britain]] and Sikkim continued and led to the [[Treaty of Tumlong]] in 1861, making Sikkim a ''de facto'' [[British protectorate]].}}
| family7 = Namgyal
| image7 = Sin foto.svg
| alt7 = Tsugphud Namgyal of Sikkim
| name8 = '''[[Sidkeong Namgyal]]'''
| nickname8 = 8th Chogyal
| native8 = {{lang|sip|སྲིད་སཀྱོང་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་}}
| life8 = 1819–1874 (aged 54–55)
| reignstart8 = 1863
| reignend8 = 1874
| notes8 = Son of [[Tsugphud Namgyal]].
| family8 = Namgyal
| image8 = Sin foto.svg
| alt8 = Sidkeong Namgyal of Sikkim
| name9 = '''[[Thutob Namgyal]]'''
| nickname9 = 9th Chogyal
| native9 = {{lang|sip|མཐུ་སྟོབས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་}}
| life9 = 1860 – 11 February 1914 (aged 53–54)
| reignstart9 = 1874
| reignend9 = 11 February 1914
| notes9 = Half-brother of [[Sidkeong Namgyal]]. <hr> {{Smaller|[[John Claude White]] appointed as the first [[List of political officers in the Kingdom of Sikkim|political officer]] in Sikkim in 1889.<ref name=KCL>{{cite web|title=John Claude White – career|url=http://www.kingscollections.org/exhibitions/archives/a-daughter-of-the-empire/family/jcw-career|publisher=[[King's College London]]|accessdate=17 February 2021}}</ref> Capital shifted from Tumlong to fourth and last capital at [[Gangtok]] in 1894.}}
| family9 = Namgyal
| image9 = Thutob Namgyal.jpg
| alt9 = Thutob Namgyal of Sikkim
| name10 = '''[[Sidkeong Tulku Namgyal]]'''
| nickname10 = 10th Chogyal
| native10 = {{lang|sip|སྲིད་སཀྱོང་སྤྲུལ་སྐུ་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་}}
| life10 = 1879 – 5 December 1914 (aged 34–35)
| reignstart10 = 11 February 1914
| reignend10 = 5 December 1914
| notes10 = Son of [[Thutob Namgyal]]. <hr> {{Smaller|The shortest-reigning Chogyal of Sikkim. Died of [[heart failure]], in most suspicious circumstances.}}
| family10 = Namgyal
| image10 = Sidkeong Tulku Namgyal.jpg
| alt10 = Sidkeong Tulku Namgyal of Sikkim
| name11 = '''[[Tashi Namgyal]]'''
| nickname11 = 11th Chogyal
| native11 = {{lang|sip|བཀྲ་ཤིས་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་}}
| life11 = {{Birth date|1893|10|26|df=y}} – {{Death date and age|1963|12|2|1893|10|26|df=y}}
| reignstart11 = 5 December 1914
| reignend11 = 2 December 1963
| notes11 = Half-brother of [[Sidkeong Tulku Namgyal]]. <hr> {{Smaller|The second longest-reigning Chogyal of Sikkim. Treaty between India and Sikkim was signed in 1950, giving India [[suzerainty]] over Sikkim.}}
| family11 = Namgyal
| image11 = Tashi Namgyal.jpg
| alt11 = Tashi Namgyal of Sikkim
| name12 = '''[[Palden Thondup Namgyal]]'''
| nickname12 = 12th Chogyal
| native12 = {{lang|sip|དཔལ་ལྡན་དོན་དྲུཔ་རྣམ་རྒྱལ}}
| life12 = {{Birth date|1923|5|23|df=y}} – {{Death date and age|1982|1|29|1923|5|23|df=y}}
| reignstart12 = 2 December 1963{{efn|Crowned on 4 April 1965.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/04/05/archives/maharaja-and-his-us-bride-crowned-amid-pomp-in-sikkim.html|title=Maharaja and His U.S. Bride Crowned Amid Pomp in Sikkim|date=5 April 1965|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=4 September 2020}}</ref>}}
| reignend12 = 10 April 1975
| notes12 = Son of [[Tashi Namgyal]]. <hr> {{Smaller|The last Chogyal of Sikkim. The country became a state of India, following the 1975 referendum.}}
| family12 = Namgyal
| image12 = Palden Thondup Namgyal.jpg
| alt12 = Palden Thondup Namgyal of Sikkim
}}
The son from the first marriage of [[Palden Thondup Namgyal]], [[Wangchuk Namgyal]] ({{lang-sip|དབང་ཕྱུག་བསྟན་འཛིན་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་}}; born 1 April 1953), was named the 13th Chogyal after his father's death on 29 January 1982,<ref>{{cite news |title=Palden Thondup Namgyal, Deposed Sikkim King, Dies |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/30/obituaries/palden-thondup-namgyal-deposed-sikkim-king-dies.html |quote=The deposed King of Sikkim, Palden Thondup Namgyal, who had been undergoing treatment for cancer in [[New York City]], died last night from complications following an operation at [[Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center]]. He was 58 years old. A family spokesman said his body was to be flown home to Sikkim for the funeral. ... |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date= 30 January 1982 |access-date=4 September 2020 }}</ref> but the position no longer confers any official authority.

=== Royal Flag ===
<gallery class="center">
File:Royal flag of Sikkim.svg|[[Flag of Sikkim|Royal Flag of Sikkim]] 1877–1975.
</gallery>

== Chogyal king of Bhutan ==
{{main|Zhabdrung Rinpoche}}
[[File:Shabdrung rubin.png|thumb|right|200px|Painting of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal]]

In Bhutan, "dharmaraja" or "Righteous King" is a title which was also conferred upon a special class of temporal and spiritual rulers. In Bhutan, the Chogyal were given the respectful title [[Zhabdrung Rinpoche|Zhabdrung]]. In this context, the Chogyal was a recognised reincarnation (or succession of reincarnations) of [[Ngawang Namgyal|Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal]], the 17th century [[Tibet]]an-born founder of Bhutan. A position of supreme importance, the Bhutanese Chogyal was above both the highest monastic authority, the [[Je Khenpo]], and the highest temporal ruler, the Deb Raja or [[Druk Desi]].<ref>Norbu, Namkhai (1988, 2000). ''The Crystal and the Way of Light: The Teachings of Namkhai Norbu''. (Snow Lion Publications) pg.20 and Notes.</ref> There were two main lines of Zhabdrung incarnations in Bhutan.

== Gyalpo of Ladakh ==
{{main|Namgyal dynasty of Ladakh}}

The region of [[Ladakh]] was ruled by a separate line of the [[Namgyal dynasty of Ladakh|Namgyal]] dynasty that lasted from 1460 to 1842 and were titled the ''Gyalpo'' of Ladakh.<ref>{{cite book|author=Teg Bahadur Kapur |title=Ladakh, the Wonderland A Geographical, Historical, and Sociological Study |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ladakh_the_Wonderland/BBMbyunREY4C?hl=en&gbpv=1 |date=1987 |publisher=Mittal Publications |isbn=9788170990116 |page=57 }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Dharmaraja (disambiguation)|Dharmaraja]]
* [[Devaraja]]
* [[Garpön]]
* [[Kingdom of Sikkim]]
* [[Ladakh#History|History of Ladakh]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Chogyals of Sikkim}}
{{Sikkim}}

[[Category:Sikkim monarchy]]
[[Category:Monarchs of Sikkim]]
[[Category:Heads of state of former countries|Sikkim]]

Chogyal - Revision history

>Lancepark at 20:51, 5 July 2021