Ngawang Namgyal (Tibetan: ངགཌབང་རྣམ-རྒྱལ, Wylie: ngag-dbang rnam-rgyal; died 1544 or somewhat later) was a prince of the Rinpungpa dynasty that dominated the Tsang region in West Central Tibet between 1435 and 1565.
However, in the decades after 1512 it is Ngawang Namgyal who is the military leader of the Rinpungpa, sometimes referred as dsongpon (vassal lord) and foremost minister under the gongma.
[6] The forces of Ngawang Namgyal were expelled from the Lhasa area in 1517, meaning that the Gelugpa sect of Buddhism could celebrate the Monlam (prayer) festival for the first time in 20 years.
The gongma conferred formal investiture on Zilnonpa as dsongpon (vassal lord) of Rinpung, the original home of the family.
In that way the Phagmodrupa regained some of their former authority in Ü (East Central Tibet), while the Rinpungpa remained dominant in Tsang.
The enterprise appears to have been part of a strategy of Kashgar to secure the route from Yarkand to the fertile Kashmir Valley and hence to South Asia.
In the fall of 1532 Haidar set out on a new eastbound expedition with the aim to reach "Ursang" (Ü-Tsang, meaning Lhasa), which was described by him as the Mecca of the Tibetans.
[12] In spite of his varying political fortunes, Ngawang Namgyal was reputed to be a prominent and haughty warrior, and scholar.
[13] His son Ngawang Jigme Drakpa lauded his father in the highest term as a highly respected and handsome person who attracted the yoginis and exchanged smiles and glimpses.
[17] In 1554, when the Karmapa hierarch Mikyö Dorje stayed in Tsari, he was requested to say dedicatory prayers for the deceased Rinpungpa lord Rinchen Wanggyal, otherwise unknown.