The Raven Crown (

Dzongkha Dzongkha (; ) is a Sino-Tibetan language that is the official and national language of Bhutan. It is written using the Tibetan script. The word means "the language of the fortress", from ' "fortress" and ' "language". , Dzongkha had 171,080 n ...

: དབུ་ཞྭ་བྱ་རོག་ཅན་; Wylie: ''dbu-zhva bya-rog-can'') is worn by the Kings of Bhutan. It is a hat surmounted by the head of a

raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...

History

The hereditary monarchy of the

Wangchuck dynasty The Wangchuck dynasty () have held the hereditary position of Druk Gyalpo ("Dragon King") of Bhutan since 1907. Prior to reunification, the Wangchuck family had governed the district of Trongsa as descendants of Dungkar Choji. They eventually o ...

in the independent Himalayan State of

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

was established in 1907. The first king of the Wangchuck dynasty, ''Gongsar''

Ugyen Wangchuck ''Gongsar'' Ugyen Wangchuck ( dz, ཨོ་རྒྱན་དབང་ཕྱུག, ; 11 June 1862 – 26 August 1926) was the first Druk Gyalpo (King) of Bhutan from 1907 to 1926. In his lifetime, he made efforts to unite the fledgling country a ...

(1862–1926), was a charismatic figure who came to power against a turbulent background of incessant and complex feuding in that chaotic warrior state. He adopted as the unique symbol of his authority a satin and silk crown surmounted by the head of a raven.Bhutan celebrates coronation of new king
/ref> The bird represents a form of ''

Mahakala Mahākāla is a deity common to Hinduism and Tantric Buddhism. In Buddhism, Mahākāla is regarded as the sacred '' Dharmapāla'' ("Protector of the Dharma"), while in Hinduism, Mahākāla is a fierce manifestation of the Hindu god Shiva and th ...

'', Bhutan's guardian deity. The prototype of the founding monarch's Raven Crown had first been devised as a battle helmet for his father,

Jigme Namgyel ''Desi'' Jigme Namgyal of Bhutan (Dzongkha: འཇིགས་མེད་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་; , 1825–1881) is a forefather of the Wangchuck Dynasty. He served as 48th Druk Desi ( Deb Raja, the secular executive) of Bhutan (1870–18 ...

(1825–1881). Known as the Black Ruler, he had worn it in bloody struggles against his many rivals within the country and against the British who tried, unsuccessfully, to subdue him. The story of the Wangchuck dynasty's rise and triumph moves from a picture of turmoil and chaos to one of relative peace and stability. The Raven Crown today is the official crown worn by the Kings of Bhutan. The Raven is the national bird of Bhutan. The raven is known locally as ''Jaroq''. At one time it was a capital crime to kill a raven in Bhutan. The satin and silk crown topped with an embroidered raven's head

Hereditary Kings of Bhutan

*''His Majesty

(1st Druk Gyalpo)'' *''His Majesty

Jigme Wangchuck Jigme Wangchuck ( dz, འཇིགས་མེད་དབང་ཕྱུག, ; 1905 – 30 March 1952) was the 2nd Druk Gyalpo or king of Bhutan from 26 August 1926, until his death. He pursued legal and infrastructural reform during his reign ...

(2nd Druk Gyalpo)'' *''His Majesty

Jigme Dorji Wangchuck Jigme Dorji Wangchuck ( dz, འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་པོ་ འཇིགས་མེད་རྡོ་རྗེ་དབང་ཕྱུག་མཆོག་, ; 2 May 1928 – 21 July 1972) was the 3rd Druk Gyalpo of Bhutan. He began ...

(3rd Druk Gyalpo)'' *''His Majesty

Jigme Singye Wangchuck Jigme Singye Wangchuck ( dz, འཇིགས་མེད་སེང་གེ་དབང་ཕྱུག་, ; born 11 November 1955) is a member of the House of Wangchuck who was the king of Bhutan (Druk Gyalpo) from 1972 until his abdicati ...

(4th Druk Gyalpo)'' *''His Majesty

Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck ( dz, འཇིགས་མེད་གེ་སར་རྣམ་རྒྱལ་དབང་ཕྱུག་, ; born 21 February 1980) is the Druk Gyalpo ( Dzongkha: Dragon King) of the Kingdom of Bhutan. After his ...

(5th Druk Gyalpo)''

History

Hereditary Kings of Bhutan

References

Further reading