"Druk Tsenden" ( dz, འབྲུག་ཙན་དན, ; "The Thunder Dragon Kingdom") is the
national anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and Europea ...
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 mountainou ...
. Adopted in 1953, the lyrics were written by Dolop Droep Namgay and possibly translated into English by Dasho Gyaldun Thinley. The accompanying music was composed by Aku Tongmi.
History
Despite claims made in Brozović's ''Enciklopedija'' (1999) and many subsequent authors, who attribute the authorship of the national anthem to Gyaldun Thinley, father of the former Prime Minister
Jigme Thinley
''Lyonpo'' Jigme Yoser Thinley ( Dzongkha: འཇིགས་མེད་འོད་ཟེར་འཕྲིན་ལས་; Wylie:'' 'Jigs-med 'Od-zer 'Phrin-las'') (born 9 September 1952) is a Bhutanese politician who was Prime Minister of B ...
, there are many who believe that the words and the national anthem itself were penned by ''Dorji Lopen'' Dolop Droep Namgay of Talo, Punakha. The ''Dorji Lopen'' is the most senior of the four senior Lopens in Bhutan's religious establishment, and often serves as the Deputy
Je Khenpo
The Je Khenpo (; "The Chief Abbot of the Central Monastic Body of Bhutan"), formerly called the ''Dharma Raja'' by orientalists, is the title given to the senior religious hierarch of Bhutan. His primary duty is to lead the Dratshang Lhentsho ...
. Dolop Droep Namgay maintained close personal and working relations with the third King of Bhutan,
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 ...
, during whose reign Gyaldun Thinley served in various capacities.
It is possible that Gyaldun Thinley may have been involved in working closely with Dolop Droep Namgay as well as translating the lyrics into English. It is also highly likely that he (and/or his son Jigme Thinley who served in many important government and political capacities since the 1990s) was one of the persons of first contact for
Dalibor Brozović
Dalibor Brozović (; 28 July 1927 – 19 June 2009) was a Croatian linguist, Slavist, dialectologist and politician. He studied the history of standard languages in the Slavic region, especially Croatian. He was an active Esperantist since ...
who attributed Gyaldun Thinley as the author of the lyrics; however, many regard Dolop Droep Namgay as the author.
Aku Tongmi was educated in
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 ...
and had recently been appointed leader of the military brass band when the need for an anthem rose at the occasion of a state visit from the Indian Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
. His original score was inspired by the Bhutanese folk tune "The Unchanging
Lotus Throne
In Asian art a lotus throne, sometimes lotus platform, is a stylized lotus flower used as the seat or base for a figure. It is the normal pedestal for divine figures in Buddhist art and Hindu art, and often seen in Jain art. Originating in In ...
" (). The melody has twice undergone changes by Tongmi's successors as band leaders. The original lyrics were 12 lines, but were shortened to the present six-line version in 1964 by a secretary to the king.
As the anthem is inspired by a folk tune, there is a choreography to it as well, originally directed by Tongmi.
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Lyrics
The lyrics to the national anthem are inscribed in the Constitution of Bhutan
The Constitution of Bhutan (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་གི་རྩ་ཁྲིམས་ཆེན་མོ་; Wylie:'' 'Druk-gi cha-thrims-chen-mo'') was enacted 18 July 2008 by the Royal Government of Bhutan. The Constitution was thoroughl ...
.
See also
*Flag of Bhutan
The national flag of Bhutan ( dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་རྒྱལ་དར) is one of the national symbols of Bhutan. The flag features a Chinese dragon ('' druk'' ylie 'brugin Dzongkha, the Bhutanese language) from Bhutanese my ...
* Emblem of Bhutan
*National symbols of Bhutan
The national symbols of Bhutan include the national flag, national emblem, national anthem, and the mythical ''druk'' thunder featured in all three. Other distinctive symbols of Bhutan and its dominant Ngalop culture include Dzongkha, the national ...
Notes
References
Further reading
*
External links
''Druk tsendhen'' - Audio of the national anthem of Bhutan, with information and lyrics
midi file
- This travel website has an instrumental version of the Anthem, as an .asx file.
- This website has a sound file of Bhutanese children singing the Anthem without musical accompaniment.
Dragon King of Bhutan calls-on President of the Republic of India on the eve of 63rd Republic Day
- The anthem starts at 01:30. Rendition by Rashtrapati AngRakshak.
{{Authority control
Asian anthems
Bhutanese music
National symbols of Bhutan
National anthem compositions in E major
Royal anthems