Ganden Phodrang

The Ganden Phodrang or Ganden Podrang (Tibetan: དགའ་ལྡན་ཕོ་བྲང, Wylie: dGa' ldan pho brang, Lhasa dialect: [ˈkɑ̃̀tɛ̃̀ ˈpʰóʈɑ̀ŋ]; Chinese: 甘丹頗章; pinyin: Gāndān Pōzhāng) was the Tibetan system of government established by the 5th Dalai Lama in 1642, when the Oirat lord Güshi Khan who founded the Khoshut Khanate conferred all spiritual and political power in Tibet to him in a ceremony in Shigatse.

During the ceremony, the Dalai Lama "made a proclamation declaring that Lhasa would be the capital of Tibet and the government of would be known as Gaden Phodrang"[1] which eventually became the seat of the Gelug school's leadership authority.

During the 17th century, the Dalai Lama established the priest and patron relationship with China's Qing emperors, a few decades before the Chinese expedition to Tibet (1720).

All power and authority lay in the hands of the Dalai Lama right up to his death and Güshi Khan did not interfere in the administration nor tried to control its policies.

The 5th Dalai Lama initiated the construction of the Potala Palace in Lhasa on the site of the Red Fort, and moved the centre of government there from Drepung.

From 1679 to 1684, the Ganden Phodrang fought in the Tibet–Ladakh–Mughal War against the Namgyal dynasty of neighboring Ladakh, with the 5th Dalai Lama overruling the advice of his Prime Minister.

[11]: 349  The 5th Dalai Lama died in 1682 and the subsequent Prime Minister, Desi Sangye Gyatso,[11]: 342 : 351  agreed on the 1684 Treaty of Tingmosgang with the King Delek Namgyal of Ladakh to end the war.

While the military landscape of Inner Asia in the late 17th century was dominated by the conflict between the Dzungars and the Qing, the Ganden Phodrang regime was also involved in the war because of its religious role, which was sometimes disingenuous.

[14] After the death of Pholhane in 1747, his son Gyurme Namgyal moved to end the cooperation with Qing China by trying to expel the last of their troops from Lhasa, whose numbers varied over the decades.

In 1841-1842, the Tibetan army defeated the Sikh Empire's Dogra forces in the Dogra–Tibetan War, leading to a treaty agreeing on status quo ante.

In the third Nepalese war (1855–1856) Tibet was defeated by the Nepal, but the resulting Treaty of Thapathali included provisions for mutual aid against aggressors.

The king of Guge eagerly accepted Christianity as an offsetting religious influence to dilute the thriving Gelugpa and to counterbalance his potential rivals and consolidate his position.