“I won’t live long enough to see his reign but I feel the future of the country is safe.”

- A Grandmother in Trongsa.

A BRILLIANT EASTERN SUN ROSE on the 18th day of the ninth month of the Bhutanese calendar, corresponding to October 31, 2004. The road to Trongsa Dzong, arguably the kingdom’s most dramatic and venerable fortress, was lined with men, women, children, dignitaries and invited foreign guests. Incense wafted on the breeze, butter lamps flickered in the air, and flags waved in eager hands.
5th King with the people
The historic occasion was the investiture ceremony of the then crown prince to the office of Chhoetse Penlop, one of the most significant events in the life of a future Bhutanese king. For, loaded with symbolism and meaning dating back to the origins of the Bhutanese nation, the event marks the formal recognition of the prince’s eventual ascension to the throne.

Sometime around midmorning, the crown prince arrived, led by a splendid procession of the most senior officials in the land, clergy members, people’s representatives and other well-wishers numbering in the thousands. Monks lined the roof of the 460-year-old dzong, playing ancient ceremonial music and invoking blessings on the kingdom in a solemn and portentous Serdra ceremony. Greeted by a ceremonial delegation of the Chhoetse Rabdey, the monastic community, in the lower courtyard of the ancient fortress, His Royal Highness was escorted to the upper courtyard where a propitiatory Marchang ceremony was held. The Crown Prince then offered the ceremonial Nyendhar scarves and made prayers before the Guru Tshengyed Thongdroel, Trongsa’s revered scroll depicting the Eight Manifestations of Guru Rinpoche, specially unfurled to mark the momentous occasion.

In an emotional moment for many onlookers, the crown prince made his way regally up the royal pedestal to assume the formal title of Chhoetse Penlop, as his great ancestors had in the past. The fortress reverberated sonorously with prayers by the collective monastic body to enable the future king to shoulder his sacred responsibilities as Bhutan’s head of state.

From there the Chhoetse Penlop proceeded to offer more Nyendhar scarves and prayers in the inner shrines to Goddess Palden Lhamo and the deity Yeshey Goenpo, Bhutan’s masculine and feminine guardians, Mahakali and Mahakala. Next he entered the Zimchungnang, the sanctum sanctorum where a Tendrel ceremony was performed by the 67th Je Khenpo, His Holiness Nyizer Trulku, in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen Ashi Tshering Yangdon Wangchuck, Her Majesty the Queen Ashi Sangay Choden Wangchuck, Their Royal Highnesses the princes and princesses and other members of the royal family.

Here, in this sacred space His Holiness Nyizer Trulku offered the crown prince other ceremonial offerings befitting a future king. Among them, the Tashi Ze Gye or Eight Auspicious symbols representing events in the Buddha’s life; the Gyalsey Naduen or Seven Treasures of a Universal King, and Nye Wai Rinchen Naduen, the Seven Secondary Jewels of the Universal King.

Later in the ceremony, the representatives of the clergy, the district administration and the people of the valley’s Mangdue Tshozhi region, offered the Chhoetse Penlop the Mendrel Ku-Sung-Thuk-Ten, symbols of the universe and expressions of the people’s appreciation to their future king.

Following his return to the capital, the Crown Prince received the ceremonial Dhar (scarf) and the Seal of the Chhoetse Penlop from His Majesty the King in the Throne Room of the Tashichhodzong.

This momentous rite of passage in a future king’s life is of enormous significance not just for the royal family but for the people of Bhutan, since it assures the continuity of our enlightened leadership and the strength and the unity of the Bhutanese people behind their future king.

An emotional grandmother in Trongsa summed it up: “I won’t live long enough to see his reign but I feel the future of the country is safe.”