Barefooted and dressed like a guard: How the Dalai Lama fled Tibet and made India his home

It all began with a simple invite; the 14th Dalai Lama had received an odd letter from a Chinese general. It was an invitation to watch a dance performance in Lhasa. However, there was a caveat —to attend minus bodyguards and armed soldiers.

Immediately, the Dalai Lama and his close aides smelled a rat and he was advised to flee. What followed was an unforgettable journey from Tibet to India — he crossed the Himalayas on foot, travelling only at night and finally reached Arunachal Pradesh where he was given asylum by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Weeks later, he shifted to Mussoorie, where he stayed at Birla House for a few days, before finally moving to his eventual home of McLeod Ganj in Himachal Pradesh’s Dharamsala, from where he has been running a government in exile for six decades.

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Now, as the Dalai Lama turns 90, we take a look back at this arduous trek and what led the Dalai Lama to undertake it.

Tibet, China and rising tensions

At the beginning of the 20th Century, Tibet increasingly came under Chinese control and a year later, communist China invaded the country high up in the mountains. Then in 1951, China drew up a 17-point agreement legitimising Tibet’s incorporation into China.

However, in the subsequent years, Tibetans faced oppression and mistreatment at the hands of the Chinese. These increasing tensions between Chinese troops and Tibetans erupted in turmoil and frequent protests and by 1956, the ethnic Tibetan people were up in arms; as more and more farmers were stripped of their land, tens of thousands organised themselves into armed resistance groups and began to fight back. Chinese army reprisals grew increasingly brutal and included wide-spread abuse of Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns.

Then in March 1959, a full-scale revolt broke out between the Tibetans and the Chinese. It was amidst this uprising that on March 10, 1959, Chinese general Zhang Chenwu invited the Dalai Lama to a performance by a Chinese dance troupe. However, the invitation also asked the Dalai Lama to come without his bodyguards or soldiers.

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This raised the hackles of supporters of the Dalai Lama; suspicious of the intent behind the friendly overture, they advised the Tibetan spiritual leader to escape from Tibet, fearing that he would be abducted by the Chinese.

A plan set in motion

Fearing the worst, the Dalai Lama and his closest supporters came up with a plan to flee Tibet and the Chinese hand and seek refuge in India. In fact, his then-Lord Chamberlain Thubten Woedhen Phala had sent an official, Thupten Tsephel Tekhang, to the then-Indian Consul General in Lhasa SL Chibber, to brief him on the situation.

Phala’s message said that if Tibetan talks with the Chinese did not work out His Holiness would need to seek refuge in India and requested him to convey the same to the Indian government so that this could be considered when the time came.

Phala also decided that the Dalai Lama and his aides would escape in small groups at different points of time with the spiritual leader being in the final group.

Escape under the dark of night

After much planning, on March 17, the Dalai Lama dressed as a soldier left the summer palace in Tibet in the dark of night along with his mother, sister, younger brother and several top officials.

The Dalai Lama and his group mostly travelled at night to avoid Chinese detection and spent their days hiding at Buddhist monasteries or camps of the Khamba tribe.

According to accounts of those involved in the escape, the Dalai Lama’s mother fared terribly in the cold. Her skin peeled and she was barely able to stand.

But after facing many challenges — the harsh climate, the extreme heights of the Himalayas and the fear of being caught by the Chinese — the Dalai Lama and his entourage, on March 26, reached Lhuntse Dzong, a few days march from the McMahon Line, the border between India and Tibet.

The Tibetan leader then wrote a letter to the Indian prime minister, seeking refuge in India: “Ever since Tibet went under the control of Red China and the Tibetan Government lost its powers in 1951, I, my Government officers and citizens have been trying to maintain peace in Tibet, but the Chinese Government has been gradually subduing the Tibetan Government.”

“In this critical situation we are entering India via Tsona,” the Dalai Lama added. “I hope that you will please make necessary arrangements for us in the Indian territory. Confident of your kindness.”

When Nehru received the letter, he took immediate measures to welcome the Tibetan leader and his at the first Indian post at Chuthangmu, north of Tawang, then part of the Kameng Frontier Division.

Then on March 31, the Dalai Lama, his family members, bodyguards, and fellow Tibetans were received by Indian border guards at the Khenzimane Pass in Arunachal Pradesh.

Nehru faces fire

For India’s Jawaharlal Nehru, the decision to grant the Dalai Lama refuge was no easy task. The PM faced severe criticism, many warning him of the consequences of “antagonising China”.

V K Krishna Menon, who was the defence minister at the time had objected to the asylum at a crucial Cabinet meeting. Bharatiya Jan Sangh leader Deendayal Upadhyay also said the move “obstructs, rather than helps, fulfillment of this objective [of actively supporting Tibet’s struggle for independence.”

But, Nehru remained steadfast.

Setting up home in India

Finally, on April 2, the Dalai Lama and his team reached Chutangmu, a tiny Assam Rifles outpost near Tawang where they were formally welcomed by Indian government officials. The following day, the Nehru government announced it had granted the Dalai Lama political asylum.

Eventually, the Dalai Lama moved to Tezpur from where he issued a full statement on his escape from Tibet. “It is thanks to the affectionate support and the loyalty of his people that the Dalai Lama was able to make his way, by an extremely difficult route,” it said.

“The Dalai Lama wishes to categorically state that he left Lhasa and Tibet and came to India of his own free will and not by force,” it said.

Shortly after the statement, China issued its own remarks, accusing India of meddling in its internal affairs. Beijing insisted that the Dalai Lama “be returned”.

Following this, the Dalai Lama lived in Mussoorie for a few months before moving to McLeodganj in Dharamsala and set up the Tibetan government-in-exile.

The rest, as you know, is history.

With inputs from agencies