Drakpa Odzer [SEP] position held
Drakpa Odzer
Drakpa Odzer () (1246 - 1303) was a Tibetan Imperial Preceptor ("Dishi") at the court of the Mongol Yuan dynasty. He hailed from Sakya which was the foremost monastic regime in Tibet in this period. He held the post from 1291 to his death in 1303.
Political background.
Since the mid-13th century the abbots of the Sakya Monastery had been the main middlemen between Tibet and the Mongol conquerors. In 1270 one of their line, Phagpa was appointed Imperial Preceptor ("
Drakpa Gyaltsen, begot two sons called Drakpa Odzer and Sanggye Pal. Drakpa Odzer became the general administrator in charge of Phagpa's property. Later on he accompanied Phagpa's nephew Dharmapala Raksita when he moved to Beijing to take up the "Dishi" dignity in 1282. When the next "Dishi" Yeshe Rinchen vacated his position in 1291, Drakpa Odzer was appointed his successor. As such he was confronted with the issue of the succession to the abbot-ship of Sakya, which was kept strictly apart from the "Dishi