Bhutan was founded and unified as a country by Ngawang Namgyal, 1st Zhabdrung Rinpoche in the mid–17th century. After his death in 1651, Bhutan nominally followed his recommended "dual system of government". Under the dual system, government control was split between a secular leader, the Druk Desi (འབྲུག་སྡེ་སྲིད་, a.k.a. Deb Raja);[nb 1] and a religious leader, the Je Khenpo (རྗེ་མཁན་པོ་).
Both the Druk Desi and Je Khenpo were under the nominal authority of the Zhabdrung Rinpoche, a reincarnation of Ngawang Namgyal. In practice however, the Zhabdrung was often a child under the control of the Druk Desi, and regional penlops often administered their districts in defiance of the power of the Druk Desis until the rise of the unified Wangchuck dynasty in 1907.[1]
Below appears the list of Druk Desis throughout the existence of the office. Officeholders were initially appointed by ZhabdrungNgawang Namgyal, though after his death the Je Khenpo and civil government decided appointments.
Italics indicate coregencies and caretaker governments, which are not traditionally separately numbered.
^The original title is སྡེ་སྲིད་ཕྱག་མཛོད་; desi chhak zod.
References
^Worden, Robert L.; Savada, Andrea Matles (ed.) (1991). "Chapter 6 – Bhutan: Administrative Integration and Conflict with Tibet, 1651–1728". Nepal and Bhutan: Country Studies (3rd ed.). Federal Research Division, United States Library of Congress. ISBN 0-8444-0777-1. {{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)
^Dorji, C. T. (1995). A Political & Religious History of Bhutan, 1651–1906. Delhi, India: Sangay Xam; Prominent Publishers. ISBN 9788186239032.
^ This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Worden, Robert L. (September 1991). Savada, Andrea Matles (ed.). Bhutan: A Country Study. Federal Research Division. Civil Conflict, 1728–72.
^"The Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan" (PDF). Government of Bhutan. 18 July 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
Further reading
Petech, Luciano (1972). The Rulers of Bhutan c. 1650–1750. Oriens Extremus. Vol. 19. Hamburg: Zeitschrift für Sprache, Kunst und Kultur der Länder des Fernen Ostens. pp. 203–213.
Dorji, C. T. (1997). Blue annals of Bhutan. Vikas. ISBN 9788125904366.
Truhart, Peter (1985). Regents of nations: systematic chronology of states and their political representatives in past and present. Regents of Nations: Systematic Chronology of States and Their Political Representatives in Past and Present : a Biographical Reference Book, Peter Truhart. Vol. 2. Saur. pp. 1005 et seq. ISBN 3-598-10493-6.
Dorji, C. T. (2004). Sources of Bhutanese history. Prominent Publishers. pp. 330 et seq. ISBN 81-86239-16-2.
Younghusband, Sir Francis Edward (1910). India and Tibet: a history of the relations which have subsisted between the two countries from the time of Warren Hastings to 1910; with a particular account of the mission to Lhasa of 1904. J. Murray.