The Treasury of Lives

Namgyel Wangchuk (rnam rgyal dbang phyug) was the younger son of Tri Songwanggyel (khri srong dbang rgyal, 19th century), the thirteenth head of the prominent Lhagyari (lha rgya ri) family who were local rulers of Eyul (e yul), situated between Yarlung (yar klung) and Dakpo (dwags po) in central Tibet. Namgyel Wangchuk was likely born sometime in the late nineteenth century. His older brother Tobjor Wangchuk (stobs 'byor dbang phyug, b.19th c.) became the fourteenth head of the family, and his sister Tseten Chodzom (tshe brtan chos 'dzoms, b. 19th c.) married into the Surkhang family (zur khang).

The 1904 British invasion of Tibet led by Colonel Francis Younghusband (1863-1942) incited the Manchu leadership in Beijing to strengthen their own presence in Tibet. Zhong Ying (b. circa 1890-1915) arrived in Lhasa in 1910 with Chinese troops. As the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Tendzin Gyatso (tA la'i bla ma 13 thub bstan rgya mtsho, 1876-1933) fled the capital and made his way to India, he stopped in Dromo where Namgyel Wangchuk was also stopping over, on his way back from India on a business trip.

The Thirteenth Dalai Lama called Namgyel Wangchuk to meet with him and recruited Namgyel Wangchuk to the fight against the Manchu forces. He made him a general, a Dapon (mda' dpon) of the Tibetan army and gave him the task of recruiting soldiers from Lhokha (lho kha), Dakpo (dwags po), and Kongpo (kong po). Namgyel Wangchuk raised a volunteer regiment of more than twelve hundred soldiers. His regiment engaged the Chinese forces in Powo (spo bo) for a week and managed to defeat them.

Not long after this victory the Kashag (bka' shag) called Namgyel Wangchuk and his forces to Lhasa. In Lhasa, General Tsarong Dasang Damdul (tsha rong zla bzang dgra 'dul, 1888 – 1959) consolidated the Tibetan forces, coordinated with the monks of Sera Monastery (se ra dgon) and attacked the Chinese at their stronghold of Tengyeling Monastery (bstan rgyas gling). In the meantime, the Qing empire had collapsed in China, and the Tibetans were able to rout the weakened and demoralized Qing forces. Namgyel Wangchuk died in the battle as a result of Chinese cannon fire.

He had one son with a woman named Jampa Drolma (byams pa sgrol ma) that he met in Tsetang (rtse thang). The boy, Kelzang Nyendrak (skal bzang snyan grags), became the sixteenth head of Lhagyari family. The Thirteenth Dalai Lama honored Namgyel Wangchuk as a hero and saw to it that the father's salary would continue to be paid out to his son.