[1] The abbot-rulers of the Sakya see enjoyed a precedence position, based on their personal ties with the Mongol great khans.
This was in particular the case with Drogön Chögyal Phagpa (1235–1280), who also held the position of Imperial Preceptor (Dishi) at the Yuan court.
[3] Dharmapala Raksita was born in 1268 as the posthumous son of Chakna Dorje (Wylie: phyag na rdo rje, 1239–1267), a brother of the Sakya lord Phagpa.
When Phagpa died in December 1280, poisoned according to the rumours, Kublai Khan sent an army of Mongols and Amdo Tibetans into Ü-Tsang in order to control the tense situation.
In 1281 he was summoned to appear before Kublai Khan in Beijing and was formally appointed Dishi in 1282 at the age of 14, succeeding his other uncle, Rinchen Gyaltsen.
Thus he had a stupa erected to the memory of Phagpa, furthermore building the monastery Metog Raba which remained the official residence for the Dishi until the end of the Yuan dynasty.
Kunga Zhonnu ordered a tax remission and in 1287 a revision of the 1268 census was carried out to establish a sounder fiscal base.