Ngawang Jigme Drakpa (Tibetan: ཎགག་དབང་ཨཇིགས་མེད་གྲགས་པ, Wylie: Ngag dbang ajigs med grags pa) (died 1597) was the last ruling prince of Tsang (West Central Tibet) of the Rinpungpa Dynasty.
[1] According to his own account, his youth was not entirely happy: he grew up with great intellectual interests but was left without attention by his highly revered father, and was not entrusted with administrative responsibilities.
[3] Dondup Tseten Dorje himself is not known for political activity after the mid 16th century, although he bore the titles miwang (prince) and desi (regent) until his death in 1620.
In an autobiographical text Ngawang Jigme Drakpa relates that he and his other brother Rinchen Wanggyal occupied the important stronghold Samdrubtse in Tsang in 1547.
Among his works were a history of the Tartar kings, a biography of Sakya Pandita, a treatise on poetry called An Ornament of a Monk's Thought, and a romance of Shambhala.
However, the local rulers Kunga Drakpa Dorje of Mangyül Gungthang and Sonam Gyalpo of Tsada formed an alliance and met the Tsang troops.
[10] In 1563 there was warfare in Tsang itself; Ngawang Jigme Drakpa interfered in a conflict between Sakya and Changdakpa, and personally led his troops in the field.
As the Rinpungpa soldiers dispersed, the place of the wangden (prince) Ngawang Jigme Drakpa was encircled by enemies.
After another intervention by Kunkhyen, Ngawang Jigme Drakpa agreed to cede the entire Panam region to Tseten Dorje.
According to one anecdote, the wife of Ngawang Jigme Drakpa told her husband about the defeat sustained by his troops against Karma Tseten.
[15] Ngawang Jigme Drakpa died in 1597, leaving two sons called Dawa Zangpo and Gewa Pal.