Located in the Eastern Himalayas, Bhutan is known as Druk Yul or ‘Land of the Thunder Dragon’ in Dzongkha, its national language. It was unified in the 17th century by Tibetan Buddhist Lama Ngawang Namgyal, known as Zhabdrung or Shabdrung, whose bearded image still occupies a place in the many Buddhist temples throughout the country. Its current government is a constitutional monarchy, whose head of state is the 5th King of Bhutan. It was the 4th King of Bhutan (the current king’s father) who ushered in democracy in 2008 before handing over the throne to his son.