Pelden Gyeltshen ( Wylie: ''dga' ldan khri pa 40 dpal ldan rgyal mtshan'') (1601-1674) was the 40th Ganden Tripa.

Early life and education

Pelden Gyeltshen was born in village Dangkhar, the then capital of the Spiti valley (in present-day

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

). Pelden Gyeltsen went to

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level city, prefecture-level Lhasa (prefecture-level city), Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Regio ...

for his monastic education, where he studied a
Ngari Dratsang
and th
Gyume College

Monastic career

Afterwards, he served as a teacher at the Gyume and th
Ganden Jangtse
colleges, before he was appointed as the 40th Ganden Tripa. Ganden Tripa is the appointed head of the

Gelug file:DalaiLama0054 tiny.jpg, 240px, 14th Dalai Lama, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Kalachakra ceremony, Bodh Gaya, Bodhgaya (India). The Gelug (, also Geluk; "virtuous ...

school of

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

. Ganden Tripas serve a fixed term of seven years. Pelden Gyeltshen served his term as Ganden Tripa from 1655 till 1662. This makes him one of the Ganden Tripas who served during the rule of the

Fifth Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (; ; 1617–1682) was the 5th Dalai Lama and the first Dalai Lama to wield effective temporal and spiritual power over all Tibet. He is often referred to simply as the Great Fifth, being a key religious and temporal leader ...

, who is credited with unifying

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

under the rule of the Ganden Phodrang.

Reliquary

After Pelden Gyeltshen's death, a silver chorten was installed as a reliquary for his remains at the Ganden monastery near Lhasa.

References

People from Lahaul and Spiti district Ganden Tripas Gelug Lamas 1601 births 1674 deaths {{Buddhist-clergy-stub