Dalai Lama's great escape: How India stood by Tibetan spiritual leader and how Dharamshala became his headquarters

Dalai Lama 90th birthday: Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, was only 23 years old when he fled Tibet in March 1959 into India. His arduous journey, which started from Lhasa where he disguised himself as a Chinese soldier, is now part of Tibetan Buddhist legend. The story is also one of how India stood by the Tibetan spiritual leader and the Buddhist community in spite of strategic challenges and the risk of angering China. It would be fair to say that India hosting the fleeing Tibetans may have contributed to the tensions that led to the 1962 India-China war. What were the choices faced by the government of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru at the time? How did the Dalai Lama eventually settle in Dharamshala? Here is what you should know.

Dalai Lama asylum: India's choices were cultural, historic, and strategic

The fundamental driving principle behind India hosting Tibetan people was the historic and cultural connections of Buddism to India. The great religion had its roots in the Indian subcontinent. Culturally, the Buddhists of Tibet had years of association with traditions followed in India. Many of the greatest sites of Buddhism are in India.

Strategically, it was a tough choice for India. Years of Chinese suppression of the Tibetan uprising, during which the Communist Army killed thousands of Tibetans, had led to a slow exodus of Tibetan Buddhists to India, across the Himalayan borders.

In the larger geostrategic chess game of the times, the US-led Western Bloc and the erstwhile Soviet Union-led Communist Bloc were seeking global dominance and influence in the Cold War era. The then newly Communist China was trying to take control over the territory of Tibet, which for centuries had its own way of life, dominated by Buddhist culture and customs.

The Tibetans sought automony, but was forced to sign a 17-point Agreement in 1951 under duress, acknowledging Chinese sovereignty over Tibet, while being promised autonomy for the region. China did not act as promised on the autonomy.
The US wanted to stop the dominance of Communist China over Tibet, and its intelligence agency CIA, reportedly played a role in India's final decision to accept the Dalai Lama in India.

The Dalai Lama's arduous journey from Tibet to India

The Dalai Lama and some of his aides and followers trekked through the Himalayan region on foot and horseback, often staying in monasteries and villages on the way, even as the Chinese Communist Army closed in. The great escape of the Tibetan leader lasted from the night of 17 March to 31 March 1959, when he entered Indian territory.

His journey started from the Tibetan headquarters in Lhasa, the Norbulingka Palace, which the Chinese Army shelled on the night of 17th March, followed by the killings of thousands of Tibetans. The Dalai Lama sent a letter to Nehru on March 26 from Lhuntse Dzong in southern Tibet, seeking asylum. The US intelligence agency CIA reportedly also cabled Nehru, urging him to allow the Tibetan leader to cross into India. On 31 March 1959, the Dalai Lama crossed the McMahon Line into India at Khenzimane, Arunachal Pradesh. He was received by the Assam Rifles, led by Assistant Political Officer TS Murty.

Dharamshala was not the first stop of Dalai Lama

Once in India, the Tibetan spiritual leader first went to Bomdila and later to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh. He stayed at the Tawang Monastery briefly. Then on 20 April 1959, he reached Mussoorie in present-day Uttarakhand, where he met Nehru and discussed the rehabilitation of Tibetan refugees, who were fleeing in hundreds from Tibet. Nehru had already announced in Parliament on 31 March 1959 that the Dalai Lama would be treated with respect.

The Indian government agreed to support Tibetan children's schooling, and cover the expenses. India expressed its commitment to the preservation of Tibetan culture and education. Thus was born the story of the Tibetan community in India. The Indian government agreed to provide refuge to an estimated 80,000 Tibetan refugees who followed the Dalai Lama into exile in subsequent years.

How Dharamshala became Dalai Lama’s Office and the centre of Tibetan Buddhists in India

The Dalai Lama initially settled in Mussoorie. On 10 March 1960, just before moving to Dharamshala, he issued a statement on the first anniversary of the Tibetan Uprising, stressing the need for resettlement of the Tibetans and the preservation of their cultural traditions.

In May 1960, he relocated to Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh. The former British colonial hill station became the permanent base for his residence. The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), which is the Tibetan Government-in-Exile also operates from Dharamshala.
The Dalai Lama's move to Dharamshala was seen as strategic, as its location in the Himalayas provided a cultural and geographical connection to Tibet. McLeod Ganj, known as ‘Little Lhasa’, located in the upper part of Dharamshala, soon became the centre of the Tibetan exile community.

The Dalai Lama set up key Tibetan Buddhist institutions such as the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in 1959 and the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in 1967. The Library of Tibetan Works and Archives was opened in 1970. The library is a major repository for Tibetan manuscripts and cultural artefacts.
The Tsuglagkhang or the Dalai Lama Temple, which is the Tibetan leader's current residence, was built in McLeod Ganj, serving as both a spiritual and administrative hub of Tibetan Buddhists in India.

For the past six decades, Dharamshala has emerged as the hub for Tibetan culture, attracting global visitors including celebrities, political leaders and scholars.

The Tibetan Government in Exile

The CTA, established in 1960, is the democratic government-in-exile of Tibetans, with departments for education, home, security, information, religious affairs, and economic affairs. The Dalai Lama retired as its its political head in 2011. The government-in-exile in Dharamshala plays a central role in the Tibetan exile movement which has now spread globally. Dharamshala hosts monasteries, schools, and cultural institutions dedicated to preserving Tibetan identity and culture.

Nehru had a tough choice to make, and India has stood by his decision to date

The Nehru government’s decision to grant asylum was a tight rope walk. It was primarily motivated by humanitarian concerns and cultural ties with Buddhist Tibet. Nehru made the decision at a time when India was trying to maintain good relations with China.

The brutality of the Chinese army crackdown, killing thousands Lhasa, affected India’s decision.

The Dalai Lama’s advocated the “Middle Way Approach” for Tibetans: autonomy rather than independence for Tibet, which earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
In spite of larger political differences, the Indian governments that followed Nehru's stood by the great people of Tibet and their cause. This was done in spite of sensitivities in bilateral relations.