The Treasury of Lives

According to legend, Nangsa Wobum was a Tibetan woman from the 11th or 12th century. Married to a prince of Rinang, she later left her family life to be ordained as a nun. One of the most famous deloks -- a person who returned from the dead to teach the living -- Nangsa has become a heroine of classic Tibetan opera.

Tamdrin Wangmo was a princess of the Derge kingdom, a principality in Kham. She was the only daughter of the sixteenth Derge King Sawang Zangpo and Queen Tsewang Lhamo. Her older brother Tsewang Dorje Rigdzin, the seventeenth King of Derge, wrote the royal chronicle entitled A Genealogy of the Kings of Derge. Tamdrin Wangmo became a nun. There is very little information about her in the historical record but enough to suggest that she helped her brother rule the kingdom. 

Norbu, with the later title of Depa and also known as Nangso Norbu, was a Tibetan government official born in the central Tibetan province of U around the end of the 16th century. In 1644 he was appointed Governor of Shigatse, a post he held until 1659 when he succeeded his elder brother, Desi Sonam Chopel as de facto ruler of Tibet on behalf of the Fifth Dalai Lama. After a brief reign as Regent he rebelled unsuccessfully against the Ganden Podrang government and was banished. His last recorded activity was in 1660. The best source we have for his life is the autobiography of the Fifth Dalai Lama.