Zhabdrung first built this dzong in 1629 and was known as Sinmo Tokha which roughly means on the belly of a Demon as it was said to have built to supress the demons. Other descriptions of the name also say that it was known as Sinmodhokha, which means the dzong built on the place where a malign spirit was confined within a stone. After the establishment of the Institute of Language and Culture Studies in 1961 it was shifted in this dzong when Lama Gyelwang Nima's headed the Institute and remained until 2011. Today it houses a monastic school looked after by the State Monk Body.