The Gyer clan, an important family of hereditary chiefs in the Yarlung Valley, controlled the Trandruk temple, which along with Samye and Jokhang, comprise the three royal temples of Trisong Detsen; it is one of the earliest and most sacred pilgrimage sites of central Tibet. For centuries, the Gyer family maintained a close association with the Trandruk temple by virtue of its hereditary structure of leadership. The Begu branch of this clan installed the first son as religious leader of the temple while the younger son would assume their father's non-religious post of general.