3
The Wamgo Tsang Family

CHÖKYI WANGPO LEFT THIS WORLD for only a brief period; because of the force of his invocation and his intention to benefit beings, he was reborn immediately. The place of birth of his successive reincarnation, Chökyi Wangchug, was also the Geog valley in the Changra¹ district of Derge. His was a renowned family cited in numerous ancient histories; they were called Wamgo Tsang by the local people, although they were known as the Ngona Tsang family throughout the Derge region.

The word wa (dba’), a component of the Wamgo surname, is from a local dialect, and in old history books its meaning emerges as “hunchback.” The original dwelling place of the family was inhabited in ancient times by three people—a man, a woman, and their daughter—who lived there by themselves for many years, cultivating the fields and tending a herd of goats.

One day, the girl, who was called Tashi Tso, took the herd to graze on a mountain peak. She came to a white rock, similar in shape to an egg, considered a local divinity named Gödrang. Soon after her arrival a light rain began to fall that led her to seek shelter in a cave below the rock, where shortly thereafter she fell asleep.

As though it were really happening, while she slept a handsome youth seemed to appear, and uniting with him, she experienced every sort of joy and pleasure. With that sensation still present, she awoke. After nine months and ten days, the girl gave birth to a baby endowed with remarkable bodily strength and with a sort of hump on his neck. The child grew to a great height and was of unsurpassable physical might.

He became famous as Wamgo, the Divine Son. It is recounted that during the construction of his big house, he lifted onto his shoulders the giant beams of the kitchen, which a normal man could barely encircle with his arms, and effortlessly carried them alone. He could also transport twelve smaller beams at a time on his shoulders. Many other stories describe his remarkable feats accomplished as a result of his extraordinary physical prowess.

It is recorded that during the time when the country was governed by the descendants of the Lhase Dralha² dynasty, the lords of the Ngulchu Trodzong of Ling³ castle at Changra, armed Mongols attacked the subjects of Ling. The Divine Son Wamgo led the Trodzong armies that drove the Mongol hordes from the country. His fame spread everywhere in the kingdom, and he became known as the Divine Son, Hero of Trodzong. To reward him, he was given the hand of the princess of Trodzong, Yudrön Yuna Chenma, in marriage.

This princess wore two long turquoise earrings, the like of which no one else possessed. For this reason everyone referred to her as “She of the blue ears” (ngonachen), which was the origin of the family name Ngona Tsang.

The Divine Son was awarded the vast Geog valley in its entirety, and the successive royal dynasties of Derge maintained this ancestral tradition intact. Among the descendants of the valorous Wamgo were born Chubur Nyima Gyaltsen, Ngotön Dorje Legdrub,⁴ and other wise men and siddhas.⁵

Many stories recount, moreover, that from ancient times until the present, among the descendants of Wamgo, who were characterized by skin markings that recalled a tiger’s mantle, many were gifted with great physical strength, courage, and valor.

I had the opportunity to read several times a large handwritten volume on the history of the various generations of the family descended from Wamgo, from which I procured the information reported above.