Druk tsendhen
Druk Tsenden is the national anthem of Bhutan. Adopted in 1953, the anthem was composed by the Venerable Dorji Lopen Dolop Droep Namgay of Talo, Punakha and possibly translated into English by Dasho Gyaldun Thinley. The accompanying music, as you hear it today is by Aku Tongmi.
History
Despite claims made in Brozovic's Enciklopedija and many subsequent authors, who attribute the authorship of this most sacred national compilation to the late Gyaldun, father of the former Prime Minister Jigme Y. Thinlay, there are many who believe that the words and the national anthem itself were penned by none other than the much learned and Venerable Dorji Lopen Dolop Droep Namgay of Talo, Punakha. The Dorji Lopen is the senior-most of the four senior Lopens in Bhutan's religious establishment, and often serves as the Deputy Je Khenpo. Dolop Droep Namgay, given his extensive knowledge and wisdom, maintained close personal and working relations with the Third King of Bhutan Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, during whose reign, Gyaldun Thinley served in various capacities.It is possible that Gyaldun Thinlay may have been involved in working closely with Dolop Droep Namgay as well as translating the sacred words into English. It is also highly likely that he was one of the persons of first contact for Dalibor Brozovic and any such claims made therein, remained part of Bhutan's history, with little or no investigative work done thereon. However, as to the claims that this beautiful ode to this great nation could have originated, much less penned by Gyaldun Thinley, who, despite his rise through the ranks and importance to Bhutan's history, is not much known for his knowledge or learning, is not viewed favorably or seriously by many. Dolop Droep Namgay on the other hand, through oral tellings again, is renowned for both learning and wisdom.
He is also attributed to have designed, named and conveyed the significance of many important national symbols and emblems - most of which are commonly known but not as well documented. Examples are the titles and insignias of the various ranks in the armed forces - Makpoen, Lingpoen, Drimpoen, etc. which translate into General, Lieutenant, Sergeant and so on for the three groups of Bhutan's armed forces, the Royal Bhutan Army, the Royal Bhutan Police and the Royal Body Guards. Furthermore, these titles and insignias are believed to be derived from an extensive research and study of the Namthar of Ling Gesar by the learned Lopen Namgay. Most of these refutations are not documented. They are oral tellings from older to the younger generation. A more thorough and academic investigation may be necessary to determine the true origins of the Druk Tsendhen; be it a lay civil servant or a learned high-monk.
Tongmi was educated in India and had recently been appointed leader of the military brass band when the need for an anthem rose at the occasion of a state visit from Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India. His original score was inspired by the Bhutanese folk tune "The Unchanging Lotus Throne". The melody has twice undergone changes by Tongmi's successors as band leaders. The original lyrics were 12 lines, but was shortened to the present six-line version in 1964 by a secretary to the king.
As the anthem is inspired by a folk tune, there is a choreography to it as well, originally directed by Tongmi.
Lyrics
The lyrics to the national anthem are inscribed in the Constitution of Bhutan.| Original in Dzongkha | Roman Dzongkha | English translation |
དཔལ་ལུགས་གཉིས་བསྟན་སྲིད་སྐྱོང་བའི་མགོན་།། འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་པོ་མངའ་བདག་རིན་པོ་ཆེ་།། སྐུ་འགྱུར་མེད་བརྟན་ཅིང་ཆབ་སྲིད་འཕེལ་།། ཆོས་སངས་རྒྱས་བསྟན་པ་དར་ཞིང་རྒྱས་།། འབངས་བདེ་སྐྱིད་ཉི་མ་ཤར་བར་ཤོག་།། | Pä lu’nyi tensi kyongwä gin Dru gäpo ’ngada rinpoche Ku gyûme tencing chap si phe Chö sanggä tenpa dâzh°ing gä Bang deki nyima shâwâsho. | The Protector who reigns over the realm of spiritual and secular traditions, He is the King of Bhutan, the precious sovereign. May His being remain unchanging, and the Kingdom prosper, May the teachings of the Enlightened One flourish, May the sun of peace and happiness shine over all people. |