The Phagmodrupa dynasty or Pagmodru (Tibetan: ཕག་མོ་གྲུ་པ་, Wylie: phag mo gru pa, [pʰʌ́kmoʈʰupa]; Chinese: 帕木竹巴) was a dynastic regime that held sway over Tibet or parts thereof from 1354 to the early 17th century.

The dynasty had a lasting importance on the history of Tibet; it created an autonomous kingdom after Yuan rule, revitalized the national culture, and brought about a new legislation that survived until the 1950s.

Its power receded after 1435 and was reduced to Ü (East Central Tibet) in the 16th century due to the rise of the ministerial family of the Rinpungpa.

[1] Founder Changchub Gyaltsen came from the monastic principality Phagmodru ("sow's ferry crossing"), which was founded as a hermitage in 1158 by the famous Kagyu scholar Phagmo Drupa Dorje Gyalpo.

Some time after the death of the founder in 1170, some of his disciples met and organized a true monastery, called Dansa Thil [de] (Wylie: gdan sa mthil, 1198).

[5] Mongol ruler Toghon Temür was beset by inner troubles, and so preferred to confirm the acquisitions of Changchub Gyaltsen, and conferred the titles darakache and tai situ (grand tutor) on him.

These were headed by dzongpons who governed from fortified cities (also called dzong) and combined civil and military functions; these were chosen from among Changchub Gyaltsen's close followers and initially were not hereditary.

Three centuries later his laws were revised by the Fifth Dalai Lama and Sangye Gyatso, and then remained in effect until the invasion of Tibet by Maoist China.

[8] After 1373 the rulers periodically dispatched formal tributes to the emperors of the Ming dynasty in China, and received from them the title Chanhuawang (Chinese: 闡化王, prince who expounds Buddhism) in 1406.

Tibetan sources show that the titles and seals sent by the Chinese authorities were valued by the Phagmodrupa as adding to their prestige,[10] but that no ordinances, taxes or laws were imposed by the Ming.

[12] Overall, as argued by Martin Slobodník, "the Phag-mo-gru did not represent an important ally or a dangerous enemy of the Ming Dynasty in its Inner Asian policy.

The dynasty was divided into three branches or rather functionaries: the ruling desi, the spiritual masters (chen-nga) of the Dansa Thil and Tsethang monasteries, and the preserver of the family (dunggyu dsinpa) who sired children to continue the Lang lineage.

This period included the work of the Buddhist reformer Je Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelug sect, and that of his younger kinsman Gedun Drub, posthumously counted as the first Dalai Lama.

A history translated by Sarat Chandra Das in 1905 says: "During the reign of the Phag[mo]du dynasty all Tibet enjoyed peace and prosperity.