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Showing posts from November 16, 2020

Tibetan Diaspora in India – A Brief History of its Emergence

During the 6 th to the 9 th centuries, Tibet was a powerful military empire, much unlike the spiritual, peaceful Buddhist domain as we acknowledge it today. Under the reign of King Songtsen Gampo and King Trisong Deutsen the empire of Tibet annexed and ruled over large territories. Later it renounced territorial claims, finding a path led supremely by Buddhism after King Trisong Deutsen brought teachers from India aiming to spread Buddhism in Tibet, which led to the establishment of Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. The event that marked the origin of the Tibetan diaspora was the defeat of the Tibetan army at the Battle of Chamdo in 1950 by the Chinese forces, and Chamdo was only the first step before advancing towards Lhasa, pivotal territory of Tibet. Communist China explained this invasion of Tibet as an attempt to ‘peacefully liberate’ Tibet but Tibetans felt that it not only was an attempt to seize their territory but also to erase its civilization. Uprisings against suppressi