Gyal Khatun
| Gyal Khatun རྒྱལ་ཁ་ཐུན། | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gyalmo, Silima, Tara | |||||
Leh Palace, the royal residency of Gyal Khatun, built by her son Sengge Namgyal. | |||||
| Born | Skardu or Khaplu, Baltistan | ||||
| Died | Nubra, Ladakh | ||||
| Husband | Jamyang Namgyal | ||||
| Issue | Sengge Namgyal | ||||
| |||||
| House | House of Maqpon or House of Yabghu (by birth) House of Namgyal (by marriage) | ||||
| Father | Yabgo Shey Gilazi or Ali Sher Khan Anchan | ||||
| Religion | Noorbakshia Islam | ||||
Gyal Khatun (Balti: རྒྱལ་ཁ་ཐུན།,lit. 'Royal Queen'), also known as Argyl Khatun, was a Balti princess and the chief consort of Jamyang Namgyal, the ruler of Ladakh in the 17th century. In Balti and Ladakhi language songs, she is also called Silima Khatun, meaning “Untainted and Pure Queen”.
The ancestry of Gyal Khatun is disputed in the sources; while some mention her as the daughter of Balti ruler Ali Senge Anchan, others describe the raja of Khaplu, Yabgo Shey Gilazi as her father. Even though Gyal and her daughter-in-law Gyal Kelsang, who was also a Balti princess, were Muslims, the Ladakhi Buddhists viewed them in high regard. They considered them same as the Tibetan Buddhist Goddess Tara. Gyal Khatun is also famous for starting the Gelugpa order of Tibetan Buddhism in Ladakh by putting the Je Tsongkhapa sculpture in the Basgo Temple.
Gyal Khatun is respected in Ladakh because she supported both Gompas and Mosques. Her leadership brought peace between the kingdoms of Maqpon and Ladakh. Her son, Sengge Namgyal, later became the greatest ruler in Ladakhi history, known as the “Lion King of Ladakh”. The Balti and Ladakhi rulers saw her as a strong and secular role model.