Sakya Monastery, a major monastery in central Tibet, is the seat of the Sakya tradition. Its first temple was founded in 1073 by Khon Konchok Gyelpo. His descendents of the Khon family, the patriarchs of the Sakya tradition, greatly expanded the complex over the centuries. During the Yuan Dynasty it was the seat of political power in Tibet. The monastery continues to be led by Khon family in the person of the Sakya Tridzin. In the fourteenth century four sons of the Eleventh Sakya Tridzin, Zangpo Pel, established four labrang, or dynastic houses at Sakya: the Zhitok, the Rinchen Gang, the Lhakhang and the Ducho. The Ducho is the sole remaining labrang at Sakya. It was divided in the eighteenth century into two palaces by two sons the Thirty-second Sakya Tridzin, Wangdu Nyingpo: the Drolma Podrang, established by Pema Dudul Wangchuk, and the Puntsok Podrang, established by Kunga Rinchen.
