Sengge Namgyal

Sengge Namgyal (c. 1570–1642) was a 17th-century Namgyal dynasty King of Ladakh, India from 1616 to his death in 1642. A Buddhist, he was noted for his immense work in building monasteries, palaces and shrines in Ladakh and is known as the "Lion King".

Biography

Sengge was born to Jamyang Namgyal and a Muslim mother. He was a devout Buddhist. In 1610, during the reign of his father, Jamyang Namgyal, Sengge and his father built the Basgo Monastery and erected a 24 foot statue of Maitreya within it and a 32 foot Buddha statue which is reportedly the second largest Buddhist statue in Ladakh after the statue in Shey Palace.

In his youth, he showed great martial skill and a flair for command. Talents which got him the command of the army. In 1614, he captured the mining town of Rudok followed by Spurangs, another important gold mining town, in 1615. The plunder and the output from these towns financed the building projectsm he would later commission as the King. In 1616, on the death of his father, Jamyang Namgyal, he ascended to the throne. He completed the conquests of Kingdom of Ngaris after a brief siege of Guge castle in 1619. Trade flourished under Namgyal along the Silk Road and he generated much wealth through trade with Kashmir to the west, and with Tibet to the east. However, he occasionally fell into dispute with the Muslim rulers of Kashmir.

Sengge

Sengge (died 1671) was a Choros-Oirat prince and the successor to his father Erdeni Batur as ruler of the Dzungar Khanate. Sengge ruled the Dzungar state from 1653 until his murder in 1671 by his two older half-brothers Tsetsen Taishi and Tsodba Batur. Sengge is best known for defeating Erincin Lobsang Tayishi, the third Altan Khan, in 1667 and eliminating the Altan Khanate as a potential future threat to the Dzungar Khanate. While being Khong Tayiji of the Oirats, during one of his raids against Kirgizs, Sengge was captured by his enemies and said to have spent two to three years as a war prisoner.

Before his death in 1653 Erdeni Batur named his third son Sengge as his successor to the consternation and disbelief of Tseten and Tsobda Batur. Erdeni Batur's decision to name Sengge as the next ruler of the Dzungar Khanate was based on solely on his belief that Sengge was the ablest of his eight sons. For being the ablest Sengge was given the southern half of the Khanate. The northern half would be split among Erdeni Batur's remaining seven sons. The fourth son, Galdan, transferred his rights to Sengge.