The Treasury of Lives

Kelzang Nyendrak (skal bzang snyan grags) was born to the noble Lhagyari family (lha rgya ri) in Lhokha (lho kha). The Lhagyari were the local rulers of Eyul (e yul), situated between Yarlung (yar klung) and Dakpo (dwags po) in central Tibet.

Kelzang Nyendrak was a first cousin of the fifteenth head of the Lhagyari family, Jigme Wangchuk ('jigs med dbang phyug), a mda ruler who was deposed by the cabinet, the Kashag (bka' shag). Jigme Wangchuk had no heir, as his son had died as a child, and his younger brother Jigme Namgyel ('jigs med rnam rgyal) was a monk at Dakpo Dratsang (dwags po grwa tshang). Kelzang Nyendrak was thus selected to succeed him as the sixteenth head of the family.

Kelzang Nyendrak's father, Namgyel Wangchuk (rnam rgyal dbang phyug, d.1912), had fought as a general, a Dapon (mda' dpon), against the Qing occupation of Lhasa in 1910-1912 and died in battle. In reward for his service, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama Tubten Gyatso (tA la'i bla ma 13 thub bstan rgya mtsho, 1876-1933), arranged for a general's salary to be paid to the son. Perhaps also as a result of his father's service, Kelzang Nyendrak was among the aristocratic young students chosen for the English school in Gyantse. This school was established in 1923 by the Englishman Frank Ludlow (b. 1885), and operated for only three years before being shut down in 1926 amid tensions between modernizing and conservative forces in Tibetan politics.

Kelzang Nyendrak married Rikdzin Chodzom (rig 'dzin chos 'dzoms), a daughter of a man named  Gongkar Gyatso (gong dkar rgya mtsho). They had six children in the following order: Kelzang Chodzom (skal bzang chos 'dzoms, 20th c.), Namgyel Gyatso (rnam rgyal rgya mtsho, 1927/28-2003), Nyendrak Puntsok (snyan grags phun tshogs, 20th c.), Lodro Gyatso (blo gros rgya mtsho, 20th c.), Kelzang Norbu (skal bzang nor bu, 20th c.), and Tendzin Chokyi Nangwa, who was identified as the Eighth Drigung Chungtsang, Tendzin Chokyi Nangwa ('bri gung chung tshang 08 bstan 'dzin chos kyi snang ba, b.1942).

Apparently Kelzang Nyendrak was not much of an improvement over his cousin, although there is no information about his failings as a ruler. He was accused of not following traditions, something attributed to his having been educated at an English school. He was either sixteen or eighteen when he was invested as the head of the family, and around the age of thirty-five, the Kashag forced him into early retirement. This was likely in 1947, the year that his oldest son, Namgyel Gyatso, succeeded him and was invested as the seventeenth head of the family.

Kelzang Nyendrak died five years later at the age of forty. On October 24, 1951, Tibet was incorporated into the People's Republic of China with the Seventeen Point Agreement. Kelzang Nyendrak's widow Rikzin Chodzom suffered severely during the upheavals. Several of her children, including Namgyel Gyatso, went into exile to India.