Lotro Gyaltsen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lotro Gyaltsen in orthographic spelling, bLo gros rgyal mts'an, was a ruler of Sakya, who lived from (1332-1365), his tribe had an important position of precedence in Tibet as an Imperial Preceptor under the Yuan dynasty. He reigned from 1347 to 1365; however, Sakya lost its influence in Central Tibet in 1354. In that way he was the last Sakya lord before the ascension of the new Phagmodrupa dynasty.
Since the 13th century the elite of the Sakya Monastery had been the instruments of the Mongol Yuan emperors based in northern China. However, with the decline of Mongol rule the Yuan court had less resources to monitor Tibetan affairs. This coincided with the split of the ruling Khon family of Sakya into four branches which were sometimes at odds. After the abdication of the learned Lama Dampa Sonam Gyaltsen in 1347, his 15-year-old nephew Lotro Gyaltsen was enthroned as the new dansa chenpo (abbot-ruler).[1] Lotro Gyaltsen was the son of the tishri (imperial preceptor) Kunga Gyaltsen (1310–1358) and the sister of the lama Kunpangpa.[2] The daily affairs of Tibet were handled by an administrator, dpon-chen or ponchen, who was also stationed in Sakya. During the era of Lotro Gyaltsen the holders of the office were Wangtson (1347 – c. 1350), Gyalwa Zangpo (c. 1350–1356/58), Namkha Tenpai Gyaltsen (c. 1357 and c. 1364) and Palbum (?–1360).[3]