![]() Soon after, the Dalai Lama and his family were escorted to Tawang to rest and recuperate from the strains of the arduous journey. The people of India, who hold you in great veneration, will no doubt accord their traditional respect to your personage. We shall be happy to afford the necessary facilities to you, your family and entourage to reside in India. “My colleagues and I welcome you and send greetings on your safe arrival in India. And so on March 31, 1959, the Dalai Lama fought his way through wind-whipped peaks and snow-covered plateaus to finally reach the homeland of the Buddha.Ĭlad in weather-beaten clothes yet instantly recognizable among the small entourage, the Tibetan leader was welcomed by Indian officials who handed him a telegram from the Indian Prime Minister: Any misgivings I had about going into exile vanished with this realisation: India was our only hope. Whatever the identity of the aircraft, it was a forceful reminder that I was not safe anywhere in Tibet. With this information they could return to attack us from the air, against which we had no protection. If it was Chinese, as it probably was, there was a good chance that they now knew where we were. It passed quickly – too quickly for anyone to be able to see what markings it had – but not so fast that the people on board could have missed spotting us. Out of nowhere, an aeroplane appeared and flew directly overhead. Just as we were nearing the highest point of the track we received a bad shock. In his autobiography ‘ Freedom in Exile’, the Dalai Lama writes:įrom Lhuntse Dzong we passed to the small village of Jhora and from there to the Karpo pass, the last before the border. They had gradually started closing on him when on March 26, 1959, his fleeing caravan finally reached Lhuntse Dzong - a few days march from the McMahon Line, the border between India and Tibet. A day later, China dissolved the Tibetan governing body and announced the establishment of a Tibetan autonomous region within the People’s Republic of China.īy this time, furious Chinese troops were in hot pursuit of the escaping Tibetan leader. Soon after, close to 800 artillery shells were fired into Norbulingka. Meanwhile, back in Lhasa, the Chinese had imposed a curfew and nearly 2000 lives were lost in the ensuing battle between the locals and the Chinese forces. ![]() ![]() In Tibet, as per the 1959 cover story of the TIME magazine, rumours floated about that the Dalai Lama “had been screened off from the view of Chinese planes by mist and low clouds conjured up by the prayers of the Buddhist holy men.” ![]() For the next two weeks, there was no word of the Tibetan leader and people around the world feared that he had been killed. ![]()
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