The Dalai Lama is a monk of the Gelug or 'Yellow Hat' school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest of the schools, which was formally headed by the Ganden Tripas. From the time of the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century, the central government of Tibet, the Ganden Phodrang, invested the position of Dalai Lama with an authority exceeding that of the Tibetan podrang (regional ruler). The Dalai Lama had always previously been a monk of the Gelug school, but from the time of the 13th Dalai Lama, this has not always been the case.