May 22, 1964 / Dr. Zakir Husain / Vice President of India / New Delhi / India
May 18, 1964 / Dr. S. Radhakrishnan / President of India / New Delhi / India
Oct. 18, 1962 / Jawaharlal Nehru / Prime Minister of India / New Delhi / India
Oct. 17, 1962 / Dr. Zakir Husain / Vice President of India / New Delhi / India
March 13, 1962 / Dr. S. Radhakrishnan / Vice President of India / New Delhi / India
April 18, 1961 / Dr. S. Radhakrishnan / Vice President of India / New Delhi / India
April 17, 1961 / Dr. Rajendra Prasad / President of India / New Delhi / India
His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in New Delhi, India on April 16. 1961.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in New Delhi, India on April 16. 1961.
1956 / Dr. Rajendra Prasad / President of India / New Delhi / India
1956 / Dr. S. Radhakrishnan / Vice President of India / New Delhi / India
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (/ˈneɪruː, ˈnɛruː/;[1] Hindi: [ˈdʒəʋaːɦərˈlaːl ˈneːɦru] (About this soundlisten); 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian independence activist, and subsequently, the first Prime Minister of India and a central figure in Indian politics before and after independence. He emerged as an eminent leader of the Indian independence movement under the tutelage of Mahatma Gandhi and served India as Prime Minister from its establishment as an independent nation in 1947 until his death in 1964. He has been described by the Amar Chitra Katha as the architect of India.[2] He was also known as Pandit Nehru due to his roots with the Kashmiri Pandit community while Indian children knew him as Chacha Nehru (Hindi, lit., "Uncle Nehru").[3][4]
The son of Motilal Nehru, a prominent lawyer and nationalist statesman and Swaroop Rani, Nehru was a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge and the Inner Temple, where he trained to be a barrister. Upon his return to India, he enrolled at the Allahabad High Court and took an interest in national politics, which eventually replaced his legal practice. A committed nationalist since his teenage years, he became a rising figure in Indian politics during the upheavals of the 1910s. He became the prominent leader of the left-wing factions of the Indian National Congress during the 1920s, and eventually of the entire Congress, with the tacit approval of his mentor, Gandhi. As Congress President in 1929, Nehru called for complete independence from the British Raj and instigated the Congress's decisive shift towards the left.
Nehru and the Congress dominated Indian politics during the 1930s as the country moved towards independence. His idea of a secular nation-state was seemingly validated when the Congress swept the 1937 provincial elections and formed the government in several provinces; on the other hand, the separatist Muslim League fared much poorer. But these achievements were severely compromised in the aftermath of the Quit India Movement in 1942, which saw the British effectively crush the Congress as a political organisation. Nehru, who had reluctantly heeded Gandhi's call for immediate independence, for he had desired to support the Allied war effort during World War II, came out of a lengthy prison term to a much altered political landscape. The Muslim League under his old Congress colleague and now opponent, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had come to dominate Muslim politics in India. Negotiations between Congress and Muslim League for power sharing failed and gave way to the independence and bloody partition of India in 1947.
Nehru was elected by the Congress to assume office as independent India's first Prime Minister, although the question of leadership had been settled as far back as 1941, when Gandhi acknowledged Nehru as his political heir and successor. As Prime Minister, he set out to realise his vision of India. The Constitution of India was enacted in 1950, after which he embarked on an ambitious program of economic, social and political reforms. Chiefly, he oversaw India's transition from a colony to a republic, while nurturing a plural, multi-party system. In foreign policy, he took a leading role in the Non-Aligned Movement while projecting India as a regional hegemon in South Asia.
Under Nehru's leadership, the Congress emerged as a catch-all party, dominating national and state-level politics and winning consecutive elections in 1951, 1957, and 1962. He remained popular with the people of India in spite of political troubles in his final years and failure of leadership during the 1962 Sino-Indian War. In India, his birthday is celebrated as Bal Diwas (Children's Day).
Contents
1 Early life and career (1889–1912)
1.1 Birth and family background
1.2 Childhood
1.3 Youth
1.4 Graduation
1.5 Advocate practice
2 Struggle for Indian independence (1912–1947)
2.1 In Britain
2.2 Early contribution on return to India
2.3 World War I
2.4 Home rule movement
2.5 Non-cooperation
2.5.1 Internationalising struggle for Indian independence
2.5.2 Mid 1930s
2.5.3 Parting company with Subhas Chandra Bose
2.6 Republicanism
2.6.1 Princely states
2.7 1929 declaration of independence
2.7.1 Draft of the declaration of independence
2.8 Civil disobedience
2.8.1 Salt satyagraha success
2.9 Architect of India
2.10 Electoral politics in 1930s
2.11 World War II and Quit India movement
2.11.1 Pakistan Resolution
2.11.2 Japan attacks India
2.11.3 Quit India Movement
3 Prime Minister of India (1947–64)
3.1 Interim Prime Minister and Independence (1946–52)
3.1.1 Independence
3.1.2 Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi
3.1.3 Integration of states
3.1.4 Adoption of New Constitution
3.2 Election of 1952
3.3 First term as Prime Minister (1952–57)
3.3.1 State reorganization
3.4 Election of 1957
3.5 Election of 1962
4 Vision and governing policies
4.1 Economic policies
4.2 Agriculture policies
4.3 Social policies
4.3.1 Education
4.3.2 Hindu Marriage law
4.3.3 Reservations for socially oppressed communities
4.3.4 Language policy
4.4 Foreign policy
4.4.1 The Commonwealth
4.4.2 Non-aligned movement
4.4.3 Defence and nuclear policy
4.4.4 Defending Kashmir
4.4.5 China
4.4.6 United States
4.4.7 Goa
5 Sino-Indian War of 1962
6 Assassination attempts and security
7 Death
8 Key cabinet members and associates
8.1 Vallabhbhai Patel
8.2 Maulana Azad
8.3 Jagjivan Ram
8.4 Morarji Desai
8.5 Govind Vallabh Pant
8.6 CD Deshmukh
8.7 Krishna Menon
8.8 Indira Gandhi
9 Personal life
9.1 Religion and personal beliefs
10 Legacy
10.1 Commemoration
10.2 In popular culture
11 Writings
12 Awards
13 See also
14 References
15 Further reading
16 External links
Early life and career (1889–1912)
Birth and family background
Jawaharlal Nehru was born on 14 November 1889 in Allahabad in British India. His father, Motilal Nehru (1861–1931), a self-made wealthy barrister who belonged to the Kashmiri Pandit community,[5] served twice as President of the Indian National Congress, in 1919 and 1928. His mother, Swaruprani Thussu (1868–1938), who came from a well-known Kashmiri Brahmin family settled in Lahore,[6] was Motilal's second wife, the first having died in child birth. Jawaharlal was the eldest of three children, two of whom were girls.[7] The elder sister, Vijaya Lakshmi, later became the first female president of the United Nations General Assembly.[8] The youngest sister, Krishna Hutheesing, became a noted writer and authored several books on her brother.
Childhood
Nehru described his childhood as a "sheltered and uneventful one". He grew up in an atmosphere of privilege at wealthy homes including a palatial estate called the Anand Bhavan. His father had him educated at home by private governesses and tutors.[9] Under the influence of a tutor, Ferdinand T. Brooks, he became interested in science and theosophy.[10] He was subsequently initiated into the Theosophical Society at age thirteen by family friend Annie Besant. However, his interest in theosophy did not prove to be enduring and he left the society shortly after Brooks departed as his tutor.[11] He wrote: "for nearly three years [Brooks] was with me and in many ways he influenced me greatly".[10]
Nehru's theosophical interests had induced him to the study of the Buddhist and Hindu scriptures.[12] According to Bal Ram Nanda, these scriptures were Nehru's "first introduction to the religious and cultural heritage of [India]....[they] provided Nehru the initial impulse for [his] long intellectual quest which culminated...in The Discovery of India."[12]
Youth
Nehru became an ardent nationalist during his youth.[13] The Second Boer War and the Russo-Japanese War intensified his feelings. About the latter he wrote, "[The] Japanese victories [had] stirred up my enthusiasm ... Nationalistic ideas filled my mind ... I mused of Indian freedom and Asiatic freedom from the thraldom of Europe."[10] Later when he had begun his institutional schooling in 1905 at Harrow, a leading school in England, he was greatly influenced by G. M. Trevelyan's Garibaldi books, which he had received as prizes for academic merit.[14] He viewed Garibaldi as a revolutionary hero. He wrote: "Visions of similar deeds in India came before, of [my] gallant fight for [Indian] freedom and in my mind India and Italy got strangely mixed together."[10]
Graduation
Nehru went to Trinity College, Cambridge in October 1907 and graduated with an honours degree in natural science in 1910.[15] During this period, he also studied politics, economics, history and literature desultorily. Writings of Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, J.M. Keynes, Bertrand Russell, Lowes Dickinson and Meredith Townsend moulded much of his political and economic thinking.[10]
After completing his degree in 1910, Nehru moved to London and studied law at Inner temple Inn[16] During this time, he continued to study the scholars of the Fabian Society including Beatrice Webb.[10] He was called to the Bar in 1912.[17][16]
Advocate practice
After returning to India in August 1912, Nehru enrolled himself as an advocate of the Allahabad High Court and tried to settle down as a barrister. But, unlike his father, he had only a desultory interest in his profession and did not relish either the practice of law or the company of lawyers. He wrote: "Decidedly the atmosphere was not intellectually stimulating and a sense of the utter insipidity of life grew upon me."[10] His involvement in nationalist politics would gradually replace his legal practice in the coming years.[10]
The Nehru family c. 1890s
Nehru dressed in cadet uniform at Harrow School in England
Nehru in khaki uniform as a member of Seva Dal
Nehru at the Allahabad High Court
Struggle for Indian independence (1912–1947)
In Britain
Nehru had developed an interest in Indian politics during his time in Britain as a student and a barrister.[18]
Early contribution on return to India
Within months of his return to India in 1912, Nehru attended an annual session of the Indian National Congress in Patna.[19] Congress in 1912 was the party of moderates and elites,[19] and he was disconcerted by what he saw as "very much an English-knowing upper-class affair".[20] Nehru harboured doubts regarding the effectiveness of Congress but agreed to work for the party in support of the Indian civil rights movement led by Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa,[21] collecting funds for the movement in 1913.[19] Later, he campaigned against indentured labour and other such discrimination faced by Indians in the British colonies.[22]
World War I
When World War I broke out, sympathy in India was divided. Although educated Indians "by and large took a vicarious pleasure" in seeing the British rulers humbled, the ruling upper classes sided with the Allies. Nehru confessed that he viewed the war with mixed feelings. Frank Moraes wrote: "If [Nehru's] sympathy was with any country it was with France, whose culture he greatly admired."[23] During the war, Nehru volunteered for the St John Ambulance and worked as one of the provincial secretaries of the organisation in Allahabad.[19] He also spoke out against the censorship acts passed by the British government in India.[24]
Nehru in 1919 with wife Kamala and daughter Indira
Nehru emerged from the war years as a leader whose political views were considered radical. Although the political discourse had been dominated at this time by Gopal Krishna Gokhale,[21] a moderate who said that it was "madness to think of independence",[19] Nehru had spoken "openly of the politics of non-cooperation, of the need of resigning from honorary positions under the government and of not continuing the futile politics of representation".[25] He ridiculed the Indian Civil Service for its support of British policies. He noted that someone had once defined the Indian Civil Service, "with which we are unfortunately still afflicted in this country, as neither Indian, nor civil, nor a service".[26] Motilal Nehru, a prominent moderate leader, acknowledged the limits of constitutional agitation, but counselled his son that there was no other "practical alternative" to it. Nehru, however, was not satisfied with the pace of the national movement. He became involved with aggressive nationalists leaders who were demanding Home Rule for Indians.[27]
The influence of the moderates on Congress politics began to wane after Gokhale died in 1915.[19] Anti-moderate leaders such as Annie Beasant and Bal Gangadhar Tilak took the opportunity to call for a national movement for Home Rule. But, in 1915, the proposal was rejected because of the reluctance of the moderates to commit to such a radical course of action. Besant nevertheless formed a league for advocating Home Rule in 1916; and Tilak, on his release from a prison term, had in April 1916 formed his own league.[19] Nehru joined both leagues but worked especially for the former.[28] He remarked later: "[Besant] had a very powerful influence on me in my childhood... even later when I entered political life her influence continued."[28] Another development which brought about a radical change in Indian politics was the espousal of Hindu-Muslim unity with the Lucknow Pact at the annual meeting of the Congress in December 1916. The pact had been initiated earlier in the year at Allahabad at a meeting of the All India Congress Committee which was held at the Nehru residence at Anand Bhawan. Nehru welcomed and encouraged the rapprochement between the two Indian communities.[28]
Home rule movement
Several nationalist leaders banded together in 1916 under the leadership of Annie Besant to voice a demand for self-governance, and to obtain the status of a Dominion within the British Empire as enjoyed by Australia, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Newfoundland at the time. Nehru joined the movement and rose to become secretary of Besant's Home Rule League.[28][29] In June 1917 Besant was arrested and interned by the British government. The Congress and various other Indian organisations threatened to launch protests if she were not set free. The British government was subsequently forced to release Besant and make significant concessions after a period of intense protest.
Non-cooperation
The first big national involvement of Nehru came at the onset of the Non-Cooperation movement in 1920. He led the movement in the United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh). Nehru was arrested on charges of anti-governmental activities in 1921, and was released a few months later.[30] In the rift that formed within the Congress following the sudden closure of the Non-Cooperation movement after the Chauri Chaura incident, Nehru remained loyal to Gandhi and did not join the Swaraj Party formed by his father Motilal Nehru and CR Das.[31]
Internationalising struggle for Indian independence
Nehru and his daughter Indira in Britain, 1930s
Nehru played a leading role in the development of the internationalist outlook of the Indian independence struggle. He sought foreign allies for India and forged links with movements for independence and democracy all over the world. In 1927, his efforts paid off and the Congress was invited to attend the congress of oppressed nationalities in Brussels in Belgium. The meeting was called to co-ordinate and plan a common struggle against imperialism. Nehru represented India and was elected to the Executive Council of the League against Imperialism that was born at this meeting.[32]
Increasingly, Nehru saw the struggle for independence from British imperialism as a multi-national effort by the various colonies and dominions of the Empire; some of his statements on this matter, however, were interpreted as complicity with the rise of Hitler and his espoused intentions. In the face of these allegations, Nehru responded, "We have sympathy for the national movement of Arabs in Palestine because it is directed against British Imperialism. Our sympathies cannot be weakened by the fact that the national movement coincides with Hitler's interests."[33]
Mid 1930s
During the mid-1930s, Nehru was much concerned with developments in Europe, which seemed to be drifting toward another world war. He was in Europe in early 1936, visiting his ailing wife, shortly before she died in a sanitarium in Switzerland.[34] At that time, he emphasised that, in the event of war, India's place was alongside the democracies, though he insisted that India could only fight in support of Great Britain and France as a free country.[35]
Parting company with Subhas Chandra Bose
Nehru worked closely with Subhas Chandra Bose in developing good relations with governments of free countries all over the world. However, the two split in the late 1930s, when Bose agreed to seek the help of fascists in driving the British out of India.[citation needed] At the same time, Nehru had supported the Republicans who were fighting against Francisco Franco's forces in the Spanish Civil War.[36] Nehru along with his aide V. K. Krishna Menon visited Spain and declared support for the Republicans. He refused to meet Benito Mussolini, the dictator of Italy when the latter expressed his desire to meet him.[37][38]
Nehru in a procession at Peshawar, North-West Frontier Province, 14 October 1937
Republicanism
Nehru was one of the first nationalist leaders to realise the sufferings of the people in the states ruled by Indian princes.[citation needed] In 1923, he suffered imprisonment in Nabha, a princely state, when he went there to see the struggle that was being waged by the Sikhs against the corrupt Mahants.[39][40] The nationalist movement had been confined to the territories under direct British rule. He helped to make the struggle of the people in the princely states a part of the nationalist movement for independence.[40][41] The All India States Peoples Conference (AISPC) was formed in 1927. Nehru who had been supporting the cause of the people of the princely states for many years was made the President of the organization in 1939.[42] He opened up its ranks to membership from across the political spectrum. The body would play an important role during the political integration of India, helping Indian leaders Vallabhbhai Patel and V. P. Menon (to whom Nehru had delegated the task of integrating the princely states into India) negotiate with hundreds of princes.[43][44]
Princely states
In July 1946, Nehru pointedly observed that no princely state could prevail militarily against the army of independent India.[45] In January 1947, he said that independent India would not accept the Divine right of kings,[46] and in May 1947, he declared that any princely state which refused to join the Constituent Assembly would be treated as an enemy state.[45] Vallabhbhai Patel and V.P. Menon were more conciliatory towards the princes, and as the men charged with integrating the states, were successful in the task.[47] During the drafting of the Indian constitution, many Indian leaders (except Nehru) of that time were in favour of allowing each princely state or covenanting state to be independent as a federal state along the lines suggested originally by the Government of India act (1935). But as the drafting of the constitution progressed and the idea of forming a republic took concrete shape, it was decided that all the princely states/covenanting States would merge with the Indian republic.
Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi, as prime minister, de-recognised all the rulers by a presidential order in 1969, a decision struck down by the Supreme Court of India. Eventually, her government by the 26th amendment to the constitution was successful in derecognizing these former rulers and ending the privy purse paid to them in 1971.[48]
1929 declaration of independence
Nehru was one of the first leaders to demand that the Congress Party should resolve to make a complete and explicit break from all ties with the British Empire. His resolution for independence was approved at the Madras session of Congress in 1927 despite Gandhi's criticism. At that time he also formed Independence for India league, a pressure group within the Congress.[49][50]
In 1928, Gandhi agreed to Nehru's demands and proposed a resolution that called for the British to grant dominion status to India within two years.[51] If the British failed to meet the deadline, the Congress would call upon all Indians to fight for complete independence. Nehru was one of the leaders who objected to the time given to the British – he pressed Gandhi to demand immediate actions from the British. Gandhi brokered a further compromise by reducing the time given from two years to one.[50] Nehru agreed to vote for the new resolution.
Demands for dominion status were rejected by the British in 1929.[52] Nehru assumed the presidency of the Congress party during the Lahore session on 29 December 1929 and introduced a successful resolution calling for complete independence.[52][53]
Draft of the declaration of independence
Nehru drafted the Indian declaration of independence, which stated:
We believe that it is the inalienable right of the Indian people, as of any other people, to have freedom and to enjoy the fruits of their toil and have the necessities of life, so that they may have full opportunities of growth. We believe also that if any government deprives a people of these rights and oppresses them the people have a further right to alter it or abolish it. The British government in India has not only deprived the Indian people of their freedom but has based itself on the exploitation of the masses, and has ruined India economically, politically, culturally and spiritually. We believe therefore, that India must sever the British connection and attain Purna Swaraj or complete independence.[54]
At midnight on New Year's Eve 1929, Nehru hoisted the tricolour flag of India upon the banks of the Ravi in Lahore.[55] A pledge of independence was read out, which included a readiness to withhold taxes. The massive gathering of public attending the ceremony was asked if they agreed with it, and the vast majority of people were witnessed to raise their hands in approval. 172 Indian members of central and provincial legislatures resigned in support of the resolution and in accordance with Indian public sentiment. The Congress asked the people of India to observe 26 January as Independence Day. The flag of India was hoisted publicly across India by Congress volunteers, nationalists and the public. Plans for a mass civil disobedience were also underway.[56]
After the Lahore session of the Congress in 1929, Nehru gradually emerged as the paramount leader of the Indian independence movement. Gandhi stepped back into a more spiritual role. Although Gandhi did not officially designate Nehru his political heir until 1942, the country as early as the mid-1930s saw in Nehru the natural successor to Gandhi.[57]
Civil disobedience
Nehru and most of the Congress leaders were initially ambivalent about Gandhi's plan to begin civil disobedience with a satyagraha aimed at the British salt tax. After the protest gathered steam, they realised the power of salt as a symbol. Nehru remarked about the unprecedented popular response, "it seemed as though a spring had been suddenly released".[58] He was arrested on 14 April 1930 while on train from Allahabad for Raipur. He had earlier, after addressing a huge meeting and leading a vast procession, ceremoniously manufactured some contraband salt. He was charged with breach of the salt law, tried summarily behind prison walls and sentenced to six months of imprisonment.
He nominated Gandhi to succeed him as Congress President during his absence in jail, but Gandhi declined, and Nehru then nominated his father as his successor.[59][60] With Nehru's arrest the civil disobedience acquired a new tempo, and arrests, firing on crowds and lathi charges grew to be ordinary occurrences.
Salt satyagraha success
The salt satyagraha succeeded in drawing the attention of the world. Indian, British, and world opinion increasingly began to recognise the legitimacy of the claims by the Congress party for independence. Nehru considered the salt satyagraha the high-water mark of his association with Gandhi,[61] and felt that its lasting importance was in changing the attitudes of Indians:
Of course these movements exercised tremendous pressure on the British Government and shook the government machinery. But the real importance, to my mind, lay in the effect they had on our own people, and especially the village masses. ... Non-cooperation dragged them out of the mire and gave them self-respect and self-reliance. ... They acted courageously and did not submit so easily to unjust oppression; their outlook widened and they began to think a little in terms of India as a whole. ... It was a remarkable transformation and the Congress, under Gandhi's leadership, must have the credit for it.[62]
Architect of India
Gandhi and Nehru in 1942
Nehru elaborated the policies of the Congress and a future Indian nation in 1929.[63] He declared that the aims of the congress were freedom of religion, right to form associations, freedom of expression of thought, equality before law for every individual without distinction of caste, colour, creed or religion, protection to regional languages and cultures, safeguarding the interests of the peasants and labour, abolition of untouchability, introduction of adult franchise, imposition of prohibition, nationalisation of industries, socialism, and establishment of a secular India.[64] All these aims formed the core of the "Fundamental Rights and Economic Policy" resolution drafted by Nehru in 1929–31 and were ratified in 1931 by the Congress party session at Karachi chaired by Vallabhbhai Patel.[65][66] Gandhian right-wing Congressmen Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad and C. Rajagopalachari.In the 1930s the Congress Socialist Party group was formed within the INC under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan, Narendra Deo and others.Nehru,however, never joined the group but did act as bridge between them and Gandhi.[67] He had the support of the left-wing Congressmen Maulana Azad and Subhas Chandra Bose.[68] The trio combined to oust Dr. Prasad as Congress President in 1936. Nehru was elected in his place and held the presidency for two years (1936–37).[69] He was then succeeded by his socialist colleagues Bose (1938–39) and Azad (1940–46). After the fall of Bose from the mainstream of Indian politics (because of his support of violence in driving the British out of India,[70] the power struggle between the socialists and conservatives balanced out. However, Sardar Patel died in 1950, leaving Nehru as the sole remaining iconic national leader, and soon the situation became such that Nehru was able to implement many of his basic policies without hindrance. Nehru's daughter, Indira Gandhi, during the state of Emergency she imposed, was able to fulfill her father's dream by the 42nd amendment (1976) of the Indian constitution by which India officially became "socialist" and "secular".[71][72]
During Nehru's second term as general secretary of the Congress, he proposed certain resolutions concerning the foreign policy of India.[73] From that time onward, he was given carte blanche in framing the foreign policy of any future Indian nation.[citation needed] He developed good relations with governments all over the world. He firmly placed India on the side of democracy and freedom during a time when the world was under the threat of fascism.[38] He was also given the responsibility of planning the economy of a future India. He appointed the National Planning Commission in 1938 to help in framing such policies.[74] However, many of the plans framed by Nehru and his colleagues would come undone with the unexpected partition of India in 1947.[75]
Electoral politics in 1930s
Jawaharlal Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore
Nehru's visit to Europe in 1936 proved to be the watershed in his political and economic thinking. His real interest in Marxism and his socialist pattern of thought stem from that tour. His subsequent sojourns in prison enabled him to study Marxism in more depth. Interested in its ideas but repelled by some of its methods, he could never bring himself to accept Karl Marx's writings as revealed scripture. Yet from then on, the yardstick of his economic thinking remained Marxist, adjusted, where necessary, to Indian conditions.[76][77]
At the 1936 Lucknow session of 1936, the Congress party,despite opposition from the newly elected Nehru as the party president, agreed to contest the provincial elections to be held in 1937 under the Government of India Act 1935.[78][79] The elections brought Congress party to power in a majority of the provinces with increased popularity and power for Nehru.Since the Muslim League under Muhammad Ali Jinnah (who was to become the creator of Pakistan) had fared badly at the polls, Nehru declared that the only two parties that mattered in India were the British colonial authorities and the Congress. Jinnah's statements that the Muslim League was the third and "equal partner" within Indian politics was widely rejected. Nehru had hoped to elevate Maulana Azad as the pre-eminent leader of Indian Muslims, but in this, he was undermined by Gandhi, who continued to treat Jinnah as the voice of Indian Muslims.[citation needed]
World War II and Quit India movement
When World War II started, Viceroy Linlithgow had unilaterally declared India a belligerent on the side of the Britain, without consulting the elected Indian representatives.[80] Nehru hurried back from a visit to China, announcing that, in a conflict between democracy and Fascism, "our sympathies must inevitably be on the side of democracy.... I should like India to play its full part and throw all her resources into the struggle for a new order.
After much deliberation, the Congress under Nehru informed the government that it would co-operate with the British but on certain conditions. First, Britain must give an assurance of full independence for India after the war and allow the election of a constituent assembly to frame a new constitution; second, although the Indian armed forces would remain under the British Commander-in-Chief, Indians must be included immediately in the central government and given a chance to share power and responsibility.[81] When Nehru presented Lord Linlithgow with the demands, he chose to reject them. A deadlock was reached. "The same old game is played again", Nehru wrote bitterly to Gandhi, "the background is the same, the various epithets are the same and the actors are the same and the results must be the same".[82]
On 23 October 1939, the Congress condemned the Viceroy's attitude and called upon the Congress ministries in the various provinces to resign in protest. Before this crucial announcement, Nehru urged Jinnah and the Muslim League to join the protest but the latter declined.[81]
Pakistan Resolution
In March 1940 Jinnah passed what would come to be known as the "Pakistan Resolution", declaring "Muslims are a nation according to any definition of a nation, and they must have their homelands, their territory and their State." This state was to be known as Pakistan, meaning "Land of the Pure". Nehru angrily declared that "all the old problems ... pale into insignificance before the latest stand taken by the Muslim League leader in Lahore". Linlithgow made Nehru an offer on 8 October 1940. It stated that Dominion status for India was the objective of the British government.[83] However, it referred neither to a date nor method of accomplishment. Only Jinnah got something more precise. "The British would not contemplate transferring power to a Congress-dominated national government the authority of which was "denied by large and powerful elements in India's national life".[84]
In October 1940, Gandhi and Nehru, abandoning their original stand of supporting Britain, decided to launch a limited civil disobedience campaign in which leading advocates of Indian independence were selected to participate one by one.[34] Nehru was arrested and sentenced to four years' imprisonment. After spending a little more than a year in jail, he was released, along with other Congress prisoners, three days before the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.[34]
Japan attacks India
Nehru and Jinnah walk together at Simla, 1946
When the Japanese carried their attack through Burma (now Myanmar) to the borders of India in the spring of 1942, the British government, faced by this new military threat, decided to make some overtures to India, as Nehru had originally desired.[85] Prime Minister Winston Churchill dispatched Sir Stafford Cripps, a member of the war Cabinet who was known to be politically close to Nehru and also knew Jinnah, with proposals for a settlement of the constitutional problem.[86] As soon as he arrived he discovered that India was more deeply divided than he had imagined. Nehru, eager for a compromise, was hopeful. Gandhi was not. Jinnah had continued opposing the Congress. "Pakistan is our only demand, and by God we will have it.", declared the Muslim League newspaper "Dawn".[87]
Cripps's mission failed as Gandhi would accept nothing less than independence. Relations between Nehru and Gandhi cooled over the latter's refusal to co-operate with Cripps, but the two later reconciled.[88] On 15 January 1941, Gandhi had stated:
Some say Jawaharlal and I were estranged. It will require much more than difference of opinion to estrange us. We had differences from the time we became co-workers and yet I have said for some years and say so now that not Rajaji but Jawaharlal will be my successor.[89][90]
Quit India Movement
In 1942, Gandhi called on the British to leave India; Nehru, though reluctant to embarrass the allied war effort, had no alternative but to join Gandhi. Following the Quit India resolution passed by the Congress party in Bombay (now Mumbai) on 8 August 1942, the entire Congress working committee, including Gandhi and Nehru, was arrested and imprisoned. Most the Congress working committee including, Nehru, Abdul Kalam azad, Sardar Patel were incarcerated at the Ahmednagar Fort[91] until 15 June 1945.[92]
During the period where all of the Congress leadership were in jail, the Muslim League under Jinnah grew in power.[93] In April 1943, the League captured the governments of Bengal and, a month later, that of the North West Frontier Province. In none of these provinces had the League previously had a majority – only the arrest of Congress members made it possible. With all the Muslim dominated provinces except the Punjab under Jinnah's control, the artificial concept of a separate Muslim State was turning into a reality. However, by 1944, Jinnah's power and prestige were on the wane. A general sympathy towards the jailed Congress leaders was developing among Muslims, and much of the blame for the disastrous Bengal famine of 1943–44 during which two million died, had been laid on the shoulders of the province's Muslim League government. The numbers at Jinnah's meetings, once counted in thousands soon numbered only a few hundreds. In despair, Jinnah left the political scene for a stay in Kashmir. His prestige was restored unwittingly by Gandhi, who had been released from prison on medical grounds in May 1944 and had met Jinnah in Bombay in September.[94] There he offered the Muslim leader a plebiscite in the Muslim areas after the war to see whether they wanted to separate from the rest of India. Essentially, it was an acceptance of the principle of Pakistan – but not in so many words. Jinnah demanded that the exact words be said; Gandhi refused and the talks broke down. Jinnah, however, had greatly strengthened his own position and that of the League. The most influential member of Congress had been seen to negotiate with him on equal terms.[95] Other Muslim League leaders, opposed both to Jinnah and to the partition of India, lost strength.
Prime Minister of India (1947–64)
Indira Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi
Teen Murti Bhavan, Nehru's residence as Prime Minister, now a museum in his memory
Nehru served as prime minister for a 18 years, first as the interim prime minister and from 1950 as the prime minister of the republic of India.
Interim Prime Minister and Independence (1946–52)
Nehru and his colleagues were released prior to the arrival of the British 1946 Cabinet Mission to India to propose plans for transfer of power.[96] The agreed plan in 1946 led to elections to the provincial assemblies and the members of the assemblies in turn electing members of the Constituent assembly. Congress won majority of seats in the assembly and headed the interim government with Nehru as the prime minister.
Lord Mountbatten swears in Jawaharlal Nehru as the first Prime Minister of free India at the ceremony held at 8:30 am IST on 15 August 1947
The period before independence in early 1947 was impaired by outbreaks of communal violence and political disorder, and the opposition of the Muslim League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who were demanding a separate Muslim state of Pakistan.[96] After failed bids to form coalitions, Nehru reluctantly[citation needed] supported the partition of India, according to a plan released by the British on 3 June 1947.
Independence
He took office as the Prime Minister of India on 15 August, and delivered his inaugural address titled "Tryst with Destiny".[97]
Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity."[98]
Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi
On 30 January 1948, Gandhi was shot while he was walking to a platform from which he was to address a prayer meeting. The assassin, Nathuram Godse, was a Hindu nationalist with links to the extremist Hindu Mahasabha party, who held Gandhi responsible for weakening India by insisting upon a payment to Pakistan.[99] Nehru addressed the nation through radio:
Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives, and there is darkness everywhere, and I do not quite know what to tell you or how to say it. Our beloved leader, Bapu as we called him, the father of the nation, is no more. Perhaps I am wrong to say that; nevertheless, we will not see him again, as we have seen him for these many years, we will not run to him for advice or seek solace from him, and that is a terrible blow, not only for me, but for millions and millions in this country.[100][101]
President Harry Truman and Jawaharlal Nehru, with Nehru's sister, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, during Nehru's visit to the United States, October 1949
Yasmin Khan argued that Gandhi's death and funeral helped consolidate the authority of the new Indian state under Nehru and Patel. The Congress tightly controlled the epic public displays of grief over a two-week period—the funeral, mortuary rituals and distribution of the martyr's ashes—as millions participated and hundreds of millions watched. The goal was to assert the power of the government, legitimise the Congress party's control and suppress all religious para-military groups. Nehru and Patel suppressed the RSS, the Muslim National Guards, and the Khaksars, with some 200,000 arrests.[102] Gandhi's death and funeral linked the distant state with the Indian people and made more understand the need to suppress religious parties during the transition to independence for the Indian people.[103]
In later years, there emerged a revisionist school of history which sought to blame Nehru for the partition of India, mostly referring to his highly centralised policies for an independent India in 1947, which Jinnah opposed in favour of a more decentralised India.[104][105]
Integration of states
See also: States Reorganisation Act, 1956
Nehru's study in Teen Murti Bhavan
(From left to right): Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Nizam VII and Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri after Hyderabad's accession to India
The British Indian Empire, which included present-day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, was divided into two types of territories: the Provinces of British India, which were governed directly by British officials responsible to the Viceroy of India; and princely states, under the rule of local hereditary rulers who recognised British suzerainty in return for local autonomy, in most cases as established by a treaty.[106] Between 1947 and about 1950, the territories of the princely states were politically integrated into the Indian Union under Nehru and Sardar Patel. Most were merged into existing provinces; others were organised into new provinces, such as Rajputana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Bharat, and Vindhya Pradesh, made up of multiple princely states; a few, including Mysore, Hyderabad, Bhopal, and Bilaspur, became separate provinces.[107] The Government of India Act, 1935 remained the constitutional law of India pending adoption of a new Constitution.
Adoption of New Constitution
Nehru signing the Indian Constitution c.1950
The new Constitution of India, which came into force on 26 January 1950, made India a sovereign democratic republic. The new republic was declared to be a "Union of States".[108] The constitution of 1950 distinguished between three main types of states: Part A states, which were the former governors' provinces of British India, were ruled by an elected governor and state legislature. The Part B states were former princely states or groups of princely states, governed by a rajpramukh, who was usually the ruler of a constituent state, and an elected legislature. The rajpramukh was appointed by the President of India. The Part C states included both the former chief commissioners' provinces and some princely states, and each was governed by a chief commissioner appointed by the President of India. The sole Part D state was the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which were administered by a lieutenant governor appointed by the central government.[109]
Election of 1952
After the adoption of the constitution on 26 November 1949, the Constituent Assembly continued to act as the interim parliament until new elections. Nehru's interim cabinet consisted of 15 members from diverse communities and parties. The first elections to Indian legislative bodies (National parliament and State assemblies ) under the new constitution of India were held in 1952.Various members of the cabinet resigned from their posts and formed their own parties to contest the elections. During that period, the then Congress party president, Purushottam Das Tandon also resigned his post because of differences with Nehru and since Nehru's popularity was needed for winning elections. Nehru, while being the PM, also was elected the president of Congress for 1951 and 1952.[110][111] In the election, despite a large number of parties competing, the Congress party under Nehru's leadership won large majorities at both state and national level.
First term as Prime Minister (1952–57)
State reorganization
In December 1953, Nehru appointed the States Reorganisation Commission to prepare for the creation of states on linguistic lines. This was headed by Justice Fazal Ali and the commission itself was also known as the Fazal Ali Commission. The efforts of this commission were overseen by Govind Ballabh Pant, who served as Nehru's Home Minister from December 1954. The commission created a report in 1955 recommending the reorganisation of India's states.[112] Under the Seventh Amendment, the existing distinction between Part A, Part B, Part C, and Part D states was abolished. The distinction between Part A and Part B states was removed, becoming known simply as "states". A new type of entity, the union territory, replaced the classification as a Part C or Part D state. Nehru stressed commonality among Indians and promoted pan-Indianism. He refused to reorganise states on either religious or ethnic lines.[113] Western scholars have mostly praised Nehru for the integration of the states into a modern republic but the act was not accepted universally in India.
Election of 1957
Nehru also led the Congress party to victory with 47.8% of the votes and taking 371 of the 494 seats in the 1957 elections.
Election of 1962
In the 1962 elections, Nehru led the Congress to victory yet with a diminished majority. Communist and socialist parties were the main beneficiaries although some right wing groups like Bharatiya Jana Sangh also did well.[114]
Vision and governing policies
According to Bhikhu Parekh, Nehru can be regarded as the founder of the modern Indian state. Parekh attributes this to the national philosophy for India that Nehru formulated. For Nehru, modernization was the national philosophy, with seven goals: national unity, parliamentary democracy, industrialization, socialism, development of the scientific temper, and non-alignment. In Parekh's opinion, the philosophy and the policies that resulted from that benefited a large section of society such as the public sector workers, industrial houses, middle and upper peasantry. It failed, however, to benefit the urban and rural poor, the unemployed and the Hindu fundamentalists.[115]
Economic policies
Nehru meeting with Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and Deutsche Bank chairman Hermann Josef Abs during a state visit to West Germany in June 1956.
Nehru implemented policies based on import substitution industrialization and advocated a mixed economy where the government controlled public sector would co-exist with the private sector.[116] He believed that the establishment of basic and heavy industry was fundamental to the development and modernisation of the Indian economy. The government, therefore, directed investment primarily into key public sector industries – steel, iron, coal, and power – promoting their development with subsidies and protectionist policies.[117]
The policy of non-alignment during the Cold War meant that Nehru received financial and technical support from both power blocs in building India's industrial base from scratch.[118] Steel mill complexes were built at Bokaro and Rourkela with assistance from the Soviet Union and West Germany. There was substantial industrial development.[118] Industry grew 7.0 percent annually between 1950 and 1965 – almost trebling industrial output and making India the world's seventh largest industrial country.[118] Nehru's critics, however, contended that India's import substitution industrialisation, which was continued long after the Nehru era, weakened the international competitiveness of its manufacturing industries.[119] India's share of world trade fell from 1.4 per cent in 1951–1960 to 0.5 per cent over 1981–1990.[120] On the other hand, India's export performance is argued to have actually showed sustained improvement over the period. The volume of exports went up at an annual rate of 2.9 per cent in 1951–1960 to 7.6 per cent in 1971–1980.[121]
GDP and GNP grew 3.9 and 4.0 per cent annually between 1950–51 and 1964–65.[122][123] It was a radical break from the British colonial period.[124] But, in comparison to other industrial powers in Europe and East Asia, the growth rates were considered anemic at best.[120][125] India lagged behind the miracle economies (Japan, West Germany, France, and Italy).[126] State planning, controls, and regulations were argued to have impaired economic growth.[127] While India's economy grew faster than both the United Kingdom and the United States – low initial income and rapid population increase – meant that growth was inadequate for any sort of catch-up with rich income nations.[125][126][128]
Nehru's preference for big state controlled enterprises created a complex system of quantitative regulations, quotas and tariffs, industrial licenses and a host of other controls. This system, known in India as Permit Raj, was responsible for economic inefficiencies that stifled entrepreneurship and checked economic growth for decades until the liberalization policies initiated by Congress government in 1991 under P. V. Narasimha Rao.[129]
Agriculture policies
Under Nehru's leadership, the government attempted to develop India quickly by embarking on agrarian reform and rapid industrialisation.[130] A successful land reform was introduced that abolished giant landholdings, but efforts to redistribute land by placing limits on landownership failed. Attempts to introduce large-scale cooperative farming were frustrated by landowning rural elites, who formed the core of the powerful right-wing of the Congress and had considerable political support in opposing the efforts of Nehru.[131] Agricultural production expanded until the early 1960s, as additional land was brought under cultivation and some irrigation projects began to have an effect. The establishment of agricultural universities, modelled after land-grant colleges in the United States, contributed to the development of the economy.[citation needed] These universities worked with high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice, initially developed in Mexico and the Philippines, that in the 1960s began the Green Revolution, an effort to diversify and increase crop production. At the same time a series of failed monsoons would cause serious food shortages despite the steady progress and increase in agricultural production.[132]
Social policies
Education
Jawaharlal Nehru was a passionate advocate of education for India's children and youth, believing it essential for India's future progress. His government oversaw the establishment of many institutions of higher learning, including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the Indian Institutes of Technology, the Indian Institutes of Management and the National Institutes of Technology.[133] Nehru also outlined a commitment in his five-year plans to guarantee free and compulsory primary education to all of India's children. For this purpose, Nehru oversaw the creation of mass village enrollment programs and the construction of thousands of schools. Nehru also launched initiatives such as the provision of free milk and meals to children to fight malnutrition. Adult education centers, vocational and technical schools were also organised for adults, especially in the rural areas.[134]
Hindu Marriage law
Under Nehru, the Indian Parliament enacted many changes to Hindu law to criminalize caste discrimination and increase the legal rights and social freedoms of women.[135][136][137][138]
Nehru with schoolchildren at the Durgapur Steel Plant. Durgapur, Rourkela and Bhilai were three integrated steel plants set up under India's Second Five-Year Plan in the late 1950s.
Nehru specifically wrote Article 44 of the Indian constitution under the Directive Principles of State Policy which states : 'The State shall endeavor to secure for the citizens a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India.' The article has formed the basis of secularism in India.[139] However, Nehru has been criticized for the inconsistent application of the law. Most notably, Nehru allowed Muslims to keep their personal law in matters relating to marriage and inheritance. Also in the small state of Goa, a civil code based on the old Portuguese Family Laws was allowed to continue, and Muslim Personal law was prohibited by Nehru. This was the result of the annexation of Goa in 1961 by India, when Nehru promised the people that their laws would be left intact. This has led to accusations of selective secularism.
While Nehru exempted Muslim law from legislation and they remained unreformed, he did pass the Special Marriage Act in 1954.[140] The idea behind this act was to give everyone in India the ability to marry outside the personal law under a civil marriage. As usual the law applied to all of India, except Jammu and Kashmir (again leading to accusations of selective secularism). In many respects, the act was almost identical to the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, which gives some idea as to how secularised the law regarding Hindus had become. The Special Marriage Act allowed Muslims to marry under it and thereby retain the protections, generally beneficial to Muslim women, that could not be found in the personal law. Under the act polygamy was illegal, and inheritance and succession would be governed by the Indian Succession Act, rather than the respective Muslim Personal Law. Divorce also would be governed by the secular law, and maintenance of a divorced wife would be along the lines set down in the civil law.[141]
Reservations for socially oppressed communities
A system of reservations in government services and educational institutions was created to eradicate the social inequalities and disadvantages faced by peoples of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Nehru also championed secularism and religious harmony, increasing the representation of minorities in government.[142]
Language policy
Nehru led the faction of the Congress party which promoted Hindi as the lingua-franca of the Indian nation.[citation needed] After an exhaustive and divisive debate with the non-Hindi speakers, Hindi was adopted as the official language of India in 1950 with English continuing as an associate official language for a period of fifteen years, after which Hindi would become the sole official language. Efforts by the Indian Government to make Hindi the sole official language after 1965 were not acceptable to many non-Hindi Indian states, who wanted the continued use of English. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), a descendant of Dravidar Kazhagam, led the opposition to Hindi.[143] To allay their fears, Nehru enacted the Official Languages Act in 1963 to ensure the continuing use of English beyond 1965. The text of the Act did not satisfy the DMK and increased their scepticism that his assurances might not be honoured by future administrations.The Official Languages Act was eventually amended in 1967 by the Congress Government headed by Indira Gandhi to guarantee the indefinite use of Hindi and English as official languages. This effectively ensured the current "virtual indefinite policy of bilingualism" of the Indian Republic.[144]
Foreign policy
Further information: List of state visits made by Jawaharlal Nehru
See also: India and the Non-Aligned Movement
Throughout his long tenure as the prime minister,Nehru also held the portfolio of External Affairs. As such, he has been credited as the sole architect of Indian foreign policy by many including Rajendra prasad Dubey.[145] His idealistic approach focused on giving India a leadership position in nonalignment. He sought to build support among the newly independent nations of Asia and Africa in opposition to the two hostile superpowers contesting the Cold War. The war with China in 1962 caused a radical shift. After that he became more realistic and defense-minded.[146]
The Commonwealth
Queen Elizabeth II with Nehru and other Commonwealth leaders, taken at the 1960 Commonwealth Conference, Windsor Castle
After independence, Nehru wanted to maintain good relations with Britain and other British commonwealth countries and signed the London Declaration, under which India agreed that, when it becomes a republic in January 1950, it would join the Commonwealth of Nations and accept the British monarch as a "symbol of the free association of its independent member nations and as such the Head of the Commonwealth."[147][148] The other nations of the Commonwealth recognised India's continuing membership of the association. The reaction back home was favourable; only the far-left and the far-right criticised Nehru's decision.
Non-aligned movement
Nehru with North Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi; 1954
Nehru with Gamal Abdel Nasser and Josip Broz Tito in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, 1961
Nehru with Otto Grotewohl, the Prime Minister of East Germany
On the international scene, Nehru was an opponent of military action and of military alliances. He was a strong supporter of the United Nations, except when it tried to resolve the Kashmir question. He pioneered the policy of non-alignment and co-founded the Non-Aligned Movement of nations professing neutrality between the rival blocs of nations led by the US and the USSR. Recognising the People's Republic of China soon after its founding (while most of the Western bloc continued relations with Taiwan), Nehru argued for its inclusion in the United Nations and refused to brand the Chinese as the aggressors in their conflict with Korea.[149] He sought to establish warm and friendly relations with China in 1950, and hoped to act as an intermediary to bridge the gulf and tensions between the communist states and the Western bloc.
Nehru was a key organizer of the Bandung Conference of April 1955, which brought 29 newly independent nations together from Asia and Africa, and was designed to galvanize the nonalignment movement under Nehru's leadership. He envisioned it as his key leadership opportunity on the world stage, where he would bring together the emerging nations.[150] Instead, he was upstaged by the Chinese representative, Zhou Enlai, who downplayed revolutionary communism and acknowledged the right of all nations to choose their own economic and political systems, including even capitalism. Nehru and his top foreign-policy aide V.K. Krishna Menon by contrast gained an international reputation as rude and undiplomatic. Zhou said, "I've never met a more arrogant man than Mr. Nehru." A senior Indian foreign office official characterize Menon as "an outstanding world statesman but the world's worst diplomat," adding that he was often "overbearing, churlish and vindictive" [151]
Defence and nuclear policy
Nehru, while adverse to war, led the preparations and actual campaigns against Pakistan with regard to Kashmir. He used overwhelming military force to seize Hyderabad In 1948 and Goa In 1961. He was keenly sensitive regarding the geostrategic and military strengths and weaknesses of India in 1947. While laying the foundation stone of the National Defence Academy in 1949, he stated: "We, who for generations had talked about and attempted in everything a peaceful way and practised non-violence, should now be, in a sense, glorifying our army, navy and air force. It means a lot. Though it is odd, yet it simply reflects the oddness of life. Though life is logical, we have to face all contingencies, and unless we are prepared to face them, we will go under. There was no greater prince of peace and apostle of non-violence than Mahatma Gandhi...but yet, he said it was better to take the sword than to surrender, fail or run away. We cannot live carefree assuming that we are safe. Human nature is such. We cannot take the risks and risk our hard-won freedom. We have to be prepared with all modern defense methods and a well-equipped army, navy and air force."[152][153]
Nehru envisioned the development of nuclear weapons and established the Atomic Energy Commission of India in 1948.[154] Nehru also called Dr. Homi J. Bhabha, a nuclear physicist, who was entrusted with complete authority over all nuclear-related affairs and programs and answered only to Nehru himself.[154] Indian nuclear policy was set by unwritten personal understanding between Nehru and Bhabha.[154] Nehru famously said to Bhabha, "Professor Bhabha take care of Physics, leave international relation to me".[154] From the outset in 1948, Nehru had high ambition to develop this program to stand against the industrialised states, and to establish a nuclear weapons capability as part of India's regional superiority to other South-Asian states, most particularly Pakistan.[154] Nehru also told Bhabha, and later it was told by Bhabha to Raja Rammanna, that: "We must have the capability. We should first prove ourselves and then talk of Gandhi, non-violence and a world without nuclear weapons."[154]
Nehru was hailed by many for working to defuse global tensions and the threat of nuclear weapons after the Korean War (1950–1953).[155] He commissioned the first study of the effects of nuclear explosions on human health, and campaigned ceaselessly for the abolition of what he called "these frightful engines of destruction". He also had pragmatic reasons for promoting de-nuclearisation, fearing that a nuclear arms race would lead to over-militarisation that would be unaffordable for developing countries such as his own.[156]
Defending Kashmir
At Lord Mountbatten's urging Nehru had promised in 1948 to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir under the auspices of the UN.[157] Kashmir was a disputed territory between India and Pakistan, the two having gone to war with each other over the state in 1947. However, as Pakistan failed to pull back troops in accordance with the UN resolution, and as Nehru grew increasingly wary of the UN, he declined to hold a plebiscite in 1953. His policies on Kashmir and the integration of the state into India were frequently defended in front of the United Nations by his aide, V. K. Krishna Menon, who earned a reputation in India for his passionate speeches.[158]
Nehru orchestrated the ouster and arrest of Sheikh Abdullah, the then prime minister of Kashmir in 1953, whom he had previously supported but now suspected of harbouring separatist ambitions; Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad replaced him.[159][160]
In 1957, Menon was instructed to deliver an unprecedented eight-hour speech defending India's stand on Kashmir; to date, the speech is the longest ever delivered in the United Nations Security Council, covering five hours of the 762nd meeting on 23 January, and two hours and forty-eight minutes on the 24th, reportedly concluding with Menon's collapse on the Security Council floor.[158] During the filibuster, Nehru moved swiftly and successfully to consolidate Indian power in Kashmir (then under great unrest). Menon's passionate defence of Indian sovereignty in Kashmir enlarged his base of support in India, and led to the Indian press temporarily dubbing him the "Hero of Kashmir". Nehru was then at the peak of his popularity in India; the only (minor) criticism came from the far-right.[161][162]
China
Nehru and Mao Zedong in Beijing, China, October 1954
In 1954, Nehru signed with China the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, known in India as the Panchsheel (from the Sanskrit words, panch: five, sheel: virtues), a set of principles to govern relations between the two states. Their first formal codification in treaty form was in an agreement between China and India in 1954 which recognized Chinese sovereignty over Tibet.[163] They were enunciated in the preamble to the "Agreement (with exchange of notes) on trade and intercourse between Tibet Region of China and India", which was signed at Peking on 29 April 1954. Negotiations took place in Delhi from December 1953 to April 1954 between the Delegation of the PRC Government and the Delegation of the Indian Government on the relations between the two countries with respect to the disputed territories of Aksai Chin and South Tibet. By 1957, Chinese premier Zhou Enlai had also succeeded in persuading Nehru to accept the Chinese position on Tibet, thus depriving Tibet of a possible ally, and of the possibility of receiving military aid from India.[164] The treaty was disregarded in the 1960s, but in the 1970s, the Five Principles again came to be seen as important in China–India relations, and more generally as norms of relations between states. They became widely recognised and accepted throughout the region during the premiership of Indira Gandhi and the 3-year rule of the Janata Party (1977–1980).[165] Although the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence were the basis of the 1954 Sino-Indian border treaty, in later years, Nehru's foreign policy suffered from increasing Chinese assertiveness over border disputes and Nehru's decision to grant asylum to the 14th Dalai Lama.[166]
United States
Nehru receiving US President Dwight D. Eisenhower at Parliament House, 1959
In 1956, Nehru had criticised the joint invasion of the Suez Canal by the British, French and Israelis. The role of Nehru, both as Indian Prime Minister and a leader of the Non-Aligned Movement was significant; he tried to be even-handed between the two sides, while denouncing Eden and co-sponsors of the invasion vigorously. Nehru had a powerful ally in the US president Dwight Eisenhower who, if relatively silent publicly, went to the extent of using America's clout in the International Monetary Fund to make Britain and France back down.During the Suez crisis, Nehru's right-hand man, Menon attempted to persuade a recalcitrant Gamal Nasser to compromise with the West, and was instrumental in moving Western powers towards an awareness that Nasser might prove willing to compromise.[167]
The US had hoped to court Nehru after its intervention in favour of Nasser during the Suez crisis. However, Cold War suspicions and the American distrust of Nehruvian socialism cooled relations between India and the US, which suspected Nehru of tacitly supporting the Soviet Union. Nehru maintained good relations with Britain even after the Suez Crisis. Nehru accepted the arbitration of the UK and World Bank, signing the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960 with Pakistani ruler Ayub Khan to resolve long-standing disputes about sharing the resources of the major rivers of the Punjab region.[168]
Goa
After years of failed negotiations, Nehru authorised the Indian Army to invade Portuguese-controlled Goa in 1961, and then he formally annexed it to India. It increased his popularity in India, but he was criticised by the communist opposition in India for the use of military force.[169]
Dag Hammarskjöld, the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, said that while Nehru was superior from a moral point of view, Zhou Enlai was more skilled in realpolitik.[170]
Sino-Indian War of 1962
See also: Sino-Indian War
Prime Minister Nehru talks with United Nations General Assembly President Romulo (October 1949)
From 1959, in a process that accelerated in 1961, Nehru adopted the "Forward Policy" of setting up military outposts in disputed areas of the Sino-Indian border, including in 43 outposts in territory not previously controlled by India.[171] China attacked some of these outposts, and thus the Sino-Indian War began, which India lost, and China withdrew to pre-war lines in eastern zone at Tawang but retained Aksai Chin which was within British India and was handed over to India after independence. Later, Pakistan handed over some portion of Kashmir near Siachen controlled by Pakistan since 1948 to China. The war exposed the unpreparedness of India's military which could send only 14,000 troops to the war zone in opposition to the many times larger Chinese army, and Nehru was widely criticised for his government's insufficient attention to defence. In response, Nehru sacked the defence minister V. K. Krishna Menon and sought US military aid. Nehru's improved relations with the US under John F. Kennedy proved useful during the war, as in 1962, President of Pakistan (then closely aligned with the Americans) Ayub Khan was made to guarantee his neutrality in regards to India, who was threatened by "communist aggression from Red China".[172] The Indian relationship with the Soviet Union, criticised by right-wing groups supporting free-market policies was also seemingly validated. Nehru would continue to maintain his commitment to the non-aligned movement despite calls from some to settle down on one permanent ally.
The aftermath of the war saw sweeping changes in the Indian military to prepare it for similar conflicts in the future, and placed pressure on Nehru, who was seen as responsible for failing to anticipate the Chinese attack on India. Under American advice (by American envoy John Kenneth Galbraith who made and ran American policy on the war as all other top policy makers in the US were absorbed in coincident Cuban Missile Crisis) Nehru refrained, not according to the best choices available, from using the Indian air force to beat back the Chinese advances. The CIA later revealed that at that time the Chinese had neither the fuel nor runways long enough for using their air force effectively in Tibet. Indians, in general, became highly sceptical of China and its military. Many Indians view the war as a betrayal of India's attempts at establishing a long-standing peace with China and started to question Nehru's usage of the term "Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai" (meaning "Indians and Chinese are brothers"). The war also put an end to Nehru's earlier hopes that India and China would form a strong Asian Axis to counteract the increasing influence of the Cold War bloc superpowers.[173]
Map showing disputed territories of India
The unpreparedness of the army was blamed on Defence Minister Menon, who "resigned" his government post to allow for someone who might modernise India's military further. India's policy of weaponisation via indigenous sources and self-sufficiency began in earnest under Nehru, completed by his daughter Indira Gandhi, who later led India to a crushing military victory over rival Pakistan in 1971. Toward the end of the war India had increased her support for Tibetan refugees and revolutionaries, some of them having settled in India, as they were fighting the same common enemy in the region. Nehru ordered the raising of an elite Indian-trained "Tibetan Armed Force" composed of Tibetan refugees, which served with distinction in future wars against Pakistan in 1965 and 1971.[174][175]
During the conflict, Nehru wrote two desperate letters to US President John F. Kennedy, requesting 12 squadrons of fighter jets and a modern radar system. These jets were seen as necessary to beef up Indian air strength so that air-to-air combat could be initiated safely from the Indian perspective (bombing troops was seen as unwise for fear of Chinese retaliatory action). Nehru also asked that these aircraft be manned by American pilots until Indian airmen were trained to replace them. These requests were rejected by the Kennedy Administration (which was involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis during most of the Sino-Indian War), leading to a cool down in Indo-US relations. According to former Indian diplomat G Parthasarathy, "only after we got nothing from the US did arms supplies from the Soviet Union to India commence".[176] Per Time Magazine's 1962 editorial on the war, however, this may not have been the case. The editorial states, 'When Washington finally turned its attention to India, it honoured the ambassador's pledge, loaded 60 US planes with $5,000,000 worth of automatic weapons, heavy mortars and land mines. Twelve huge C-130 Hercules transports, complete with US crews and maintenance teams, took off for New Delhi to fly Indian troops and equipment to the battle zone. Britain weighed in with Bren and Sten guns, and airlifted 150 tons of arms to India. Canada prepared to ship six transport planes. Australia opened Indian credits for $1,800,000 worth of munitions'.[177]
Assassination attempts and security
There were four known assassination attempts on Nehru. The first attempt on his life was during partition in 1947 while he was visiting North-West Frontier Province (now in Pakistan) in a car.[178] The second one was by a knife-wielding rickshaw-puller in Maharashtra in 1955.[179][180][181][182] The third one happened in Bombay (now Maharashtra) in 1956.[183][184] The fourth one was a failed bombing attempt on train tracks in Maharashtra in 1961.[185] Despite threats to his life, Nehru despised having too much security around him and did not like to disrupt traffic due to his movement.[186]
Death
If any people choose to think of me, then I should like them to say: 'This was the man who, with all his mind and heart, loved India and the Indian people. And they, in turn, were indulgent to him and gave him of their love most abundantly and extravagantly.' – Jawaharlal Nehru[187][188][189]
Nehru's health began declining steadily after 1962, and he spent months recuperating in Kashmir through 1963. Some historians attribute this dramatic decline to his surprise and chagrin over the Sino-Indian War, which he perceived as a betrayal of trust.[190] Upon his return from Dehradun on 26 May 1964 he was feeling quite comfortable and went to bed at about 23:30 as usual, he had a restful night until about 06:30 soon after he returned from bathroom, Nehru complained of pain in the back. He spoke to the doctors who attended on him for a brief while and almost immediately Nehru collapsed. He remained unconscious until he died. His death was announced to Lok Sabha at 14:00 local time on 27 May 1964 (same day); cause of death is believed to be heart attack.[191] Draped in the Indian national Tri-colour flag the body of Jawaharlal Nehru was placed for public viewing. "Raghupati Raghava Rajaram" was chanted as the body was placed on the platform. On 28 May, Nehru was cremated in accordance with Hindu rites at the Shantivan on the banks of the Yamuna, witnessed by 1.5 million mourners who had flocked into the streets of Delhi and the cremation grounds.[192]
Nehru's death left India with no clear political heir to his leadership[citation needed] (later Lal Bahadur Shastri succeeded him as the Prime Minister). The death was announced to the Indian parliament in words similar to Nehru's own at the time of Gandhi's assassination: "The light is out."[188][193]
Key cabinet members and associates
Nehru served as the prime minister for eighteen years. During his tenure he had many ministers in his cabinet who were heavy weights in their own right. Key members from his first cabinet include Vallabhbhai Patel who oversaw the integration of princely states in the Indian union but was also his greatest rival in the Congress party, and B.R. Ambedkar, the law minister in the interim cabinet who also chaired the Constitution Drafting Committee.
Vallabhbhai Patel
Vallabhbhai Patel served as home minister in the interim government. He was instrumental in getting the Congress party working committee to vote for partition. He is also credited with integrating peacefully most of the princely states of India. Patel was a strong rival to Nehru but died in 1950, leaving Nehru as the unchallenged leader of India until his own death in 1964.[194]
Maulana Azad
Jagjivan Ram
Jagjivan Ram became the youngest minister in Nehru's Interim government of India a Labour Minister and also a member of the Constituent Assembly of India, where,as a member from the dalit caste, he ensured that social justice was enshrined in the Constitution. He went on to serve as a minister with various portfolios during Nehru's tenure and in Shastri and Indira Gandhi governments.
Morarji Desai
Govind Vallabh Pant
Govind Ballabh Pant (1887–1961) was a key figure in the Indian independence movement and later a pivotal figure in the politics of UP and later in the Indian Government. Pant served in Nehru's cabinet as Union Home Minister from 1955 until Pant's death in 1961.[195] As Home Minister, his chief achievement was the re-organisation of States along linguistic lines. He was also responsible for the establishment of Hindi as an official language of the central government and a few states.[196] During his tenure as the Home Minister, Pant was awarded the Bharat Ratna.[197]
CD Deshmukh
C.D. Deshmukh was one of 5 members of the Planning Commission when it was constituted in 1950 by a cabinet resolution.[198][199] Deshmukh succeeded John Mathai as the Union Finance Minister in 1950 after Mathai resigned in protest over the transfer of certain powers to the Planning Commission.[200] As Finance Minister, Deshmukh continued to remain a member of the Planning Commission.[201] Deshmukh's tenure – during which he delivered six budgets and an interim budget[202] – is noted for the effective management of the Indian economy and its steady growth which saw the economy recover from the impacts of the events of the 1940s.[203][204]
During Deshmukh's tenure the State Bank of India was formed in 1955 through the nationalisation and amalgamation of the Imperial Bank with several smaller banks.[205][206] The nationalisation of insurance companies and the formation of the Life Insurance Corporation of India was accomplished by him through the Life Insurance Corporation of India Act, 1956.[207][208]
Deshmukh resigned over the proposal of the Government of India to move a bill in Parliament bifurcating Bombay State into Gujarat and Maharashtra while designating the city of Bombay a Union Territory.[209][210]
Krishna Menon
Vengalil Krishnan Krishna Menon (1896–1974) was a close associate of Nehru, and had been described by some as the second most powerful man in India during Nehru's tenure as prime minister.Under Nehru, he served as India's high commissioner to UK, UN ambassador, and union minister of defence.He was forced to resign after the debacle of 1962 China war.[211][212][213]
Indira Gandhi
In the years following independence, Nehru frequently turned to his daughter Indira to look after him and manage his personal affairs. Indira moved into Nehru's official residence to attend to him and became his constant companion in his travels across India and the world. She would virtually become Nehru's chief of staff.[214] Indira was elected as Congress party President in 1959 which aroused criticism for alleged nepotism, although actually Nehru had disapproved of her election, partly because he considered that it smacked of "dynasticism"; he said, indeed it was "wholly undemocratic and an undesirable thing", and refused her a position in his cabinet.[215] Indira herself was at loggerheads with her father over policy; most notably, she used his oft-stated personal deference to the Congress Working Committee to push through the dismissal of the Communist Party of India government in the state of Kerala, over his own objections.[215] Nehru began to be frequently embarrassed by her ruthlessness and disregard for parliamentary tradition, and was "hurt" by what he saw as an assertiveness with no purpose other than to stake out an identity independent of her father.[216]
Personal life
Nehru with Edwina Mountbatten
Nehru married Kamala Kaul in 1916. Their only daughter Indira was born a year later in 1917. Kamala gave birth to a boy in November 1924, but he lived for only a week.[217] Indira married Feroze Gandhi in 1942. They had two sons – Rajiv (b. 1944) and Sanjay (b. 1946).
After Kamala's death in 1936, Nehru, as a widower, was alleged to have had relationships with many women. These included Shraddha Mata,[218] Padmaja Naidu[219][220] and Edwina Mountbatten.[221] Edwina's daughter Pamela acknowledged Nehru's platonic relationship with Edwina.[222] Nehru took the personal decision to send an Indian Navy frigate to the sea burial of Edwina Mountbatten in 1960.[223] Nehru's sister, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit told Pupul Jayakar, Indira Gandhi's friend and biographer, that Padmaja Naidu and Nehru lived together for many years.[224][225]
During most of Nehru's tenure as the prime minister, Indira served her father unofficially as a personal assistant.[226] Towards the end of the 1950s, Indira Gandhi served as the President of the Congress. In that capacity, she was instrumental in getting the Communist led Kerala State Government dismissed in 1959.[227]
Religion and personal beliefs
Nehru distributes sweets among children at Nongpoh, Meghalaya
Described as Hindu Agnostic,[228] and styling himself as a "scientific humanist",[229] Nehru thought that religious taboos were preventing India from going forward and adapting to modern conditions: "No country or people who are slaves to dogma and dogmatic mentality can progress, and unhappily our country and people have become extraordinarily dogmatic and little-minded."[230]
The spectacle of what is called religion, or at any rate organised religion, in India and elsewhere, has filled me with horror and I have frequently condemned it and wished to make a clean sweep of it. Almost always it seemed to stand for blind belief and reaction, dogma and bigotry, superstition, exploitation and the preservation of vested interests.
— Toward Freedom: The Autobiography of Jawaharlal Nehru(1936); pp. 240–241.[231]
In his autobiography, he analysed Christianity[232] and Islam,[233] and their impact on India. He wanted to model India as a secular country; his secularist policies remain a subject of debate.[234][235]
Legacy
Nehru was a great man... Nehru gave to Indians an image of themselves that I don't think others might have succeeded in doing. – Sir Isaiah Berlin[236]
Bust of Nehru at Aldwych, London
Statue of Nehru at Park Street, Kolkata
As India's first Prime minister and external affairs minister, Jawaharlal Nehru played a major role in shaping modern India's government and political culture along with sound foreign policy.[citation needed] He is praised for creating a system providing universal primary education,[237] reaching children in the farthest corners of rural India. Nehru's education policy is also credited for the development of world-class educational institutions such as the All India Institute of Medical Sciences,[238] Indian Institutes of Technology,[239] and the Indian Institutes of Management.
In addition, Nehru's stance as an unfailing nationalist led him to also implement policies which stressed commonality among Indians while still appreciating regional diversities. This proved particularly important as post-Independence differences surfaced since British withdrawal from the subcontinent prompted regional leaders to no longer relate to one another as allies against a common adversary. While differences of culture and, especially, language threatened the unity of the new nation, Nehru established programs such as the National Book Trust and the National Literary Academy which promoted the translation of regional literatures between languages and also organised the transfer of materials between regions. In pursuit of a single, unified India, Nehru warned, "Integrate or perish."[240]
Historian Ramachandra Guha writes, "[had] Nehru retired in 1958 he would be remembered as not just India's best prime minister, but as one of the great statesmen of the modern world."[241] Nehru, thus, left behind a disputed legacy, being "either adored or reviled for India's progress or lack of it".[242]
Commemoration
Jawaharlal Nehru on a 1989 USSR commemorative stamp
In his lifetime, Jawaharlal Nehru enjoyed an iconic status in India and was widely admired across the world for his idealism and statesmanship.[243][244] His birthday, 14 November is celebrated in India as Bal Divas ("Children's Day") in recognition of his lifelong passion and work for the welfare, education and development of children and young people. Children across India remember him as Chacha Nehru (Uncle Nehru).[245] Nehru remains a popular symbol of the Congress Party which frequently celebrates his memory. Congress leaders and activists often emulate his style of clothing, especially the Gandhi cap and the "Nehru jacket", and his mannerisms.[244] Nehru's ideals and policies continue to shape the Congress Party's manifesto and core political philosophy.[245] An emotional attachment to his legacy was instrumental in the rise of his daughter Indira to leadership of the Congress Party and the national government.
In 2012, Nehru was ranked number 4 in Outlook India's poll of the Greatest Indian.[246]
Nehru's personal preference for the sherwani ensured that it continues to be considered formal wear in North India today; aside from lending his name to a kind of cap, the Nehru jacket is named in his honour because of his preference for that style.[247]
Numerous public institutions and memorials across India are dedicated to Nehru's memory. The Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi is among the most prestigious universities in India. The Jawaharlal Nehru Port near the city of Mumbai is a modern port and dock designed to handle a huge cargo and traffic load. Nehru's residence in Delhi is preserved as the Teen Murti House now has Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, and one of five Nehru Planetariums that were set in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Allahabad and Pune. The complex also houses the offices of the 'Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund', established in 1964 under the Chairmanship of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, then President of India. The foundation also gives away the prestigious 'Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fellowship', established in 1968.[248] The Nehru family homes at Anand Bhavan and Swaraj Bhavan are also preserved to commemorate Nehru and his family's legacy.
In popular culture
Many documentaries about Nehru's life have been produced. He has also been portrayed in fictionalised films. The canonical performance is probably that of Roshan Seth, who played him three times: in Richard Attenborough's 1982 film Gandhi, Shyam Benegal's 1988 television series Bharat Ek Khoj, based on Nehru's The Discovery of India, and in a 2007 TV film entitled The Last Days of the Raj.[249] In Ketan Mehta's film Sardar,[250] Nehru was portrayed by Benjamin Gilani. Girish Karnad's historical play, Tughlaq (1962) is an allegory about the Nehruvian era. It was staged by Ebrahim Alkazi with National School of Drama Repertory at Purana Qila, Delhi in the 1970s and later at the Festival of India, London in 1982.[251][252]
Writings
Nehru was a prolific writer in English and wrote a number of books, such as The Discovery of India, Glimpses of World History, and his autobiography, Toward Freedom. He had written 30 letters to his daughter Indira Gandhi, when she was 10 years old and in a boarding school in Mussoorie, teaching about natural history and the story of civilisations. The collection of these letters was later published as a book Letters from a Father to His Daughter.[253]
Dalai Lama (UK: /ˈdælaɪ ˈlɑːmə/, US: /ˈdɑːlaɪ ˈlɑːmə/;[1][2] Standard Tibetan: ཏཱ་ལའི་བླ་མ་, Tā la'i bla ma, [táːlɛː láma]) is a title given by the Tibetan people for the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest of the classical schools of Tibetan Buddhism.[3] The 14th and current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso, who lives as a refugee in India.
The Dalai Lama is also considered to be the successor in a line of tulkus who are believed[2] to be incarnations of Avalokiteśvara,[1] a Bodhisattva of Compassion.[4][5] The name is a combination of the Mongolic word dalai meaning "ocean" or "big" (coming from Mongolian title Dalaiyin qan or Dalaiin khan,[6] translated as Gyatso in Tibetan)[7] and the Tibetan word བླ་མ་ (bla-ma) meaning "master, guru".[8]
Since the time of the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century, his personage has always been a symbol of unification of the state of Tibet, where he has represented Buddhist values and traditions.[9] The Dalai Lama was an important figure of the Geluk tradition, which was politically and numerically dominant in Central Tibet, but his religious authority went beyond sectarian boundaries. While he had no formal or institutional role in any of the religious traditions, which were headed by their own high lamas, he was a unifying symbol of the Tibetan state, representing Buddhist values and traditions above any specific school.[10] The traditional function of the Dalai Lama as an ecumenical figure, holding together disparate religious and regional groups, has been taken up by the present fourteenth Dalai Lama. He has worked to overcome sectarian and other divisions in the exiled community and has become a symbol of Tibetan nationhood for Tibetans both in Tibet and in exile.[11]
From 1642 until 1705 and from 1750 to the 1950s, the Dalai Lamas or their regents headed the Tibetan government (or Ganden Phodrang) in Lhasa which governed all or most of the Tibetan Plateau with varying degrees of autonomy[12] under the Qing Dynasty of China, in which Tibet had been under non-Tibetan suzerainty,[13] and a period of disputed "defacto independence" between 1913 to 1951.[14][circular reference] This Tibetan government also enjoyed the patronage and protection of firstly Mongol kings of the Khoshut and Dzungar Khanates (1642–1720) and then of the emperors of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty (1720–1912).[12] In 1913, several Tibetan representatives including Agvan Dorzhiev signed a treaty between Tibet and Mongolia, proclaiming mutual recognition and their independence from China, however the legitimacy of the treaty and declared independence of Tibet was rejected by both the Republic of China and the current People's Republic of China.[15][16] The Dalai Lamas headed the Tibetan government afterwards despite that, until 1951.[17][unreliable source]
Contents
1 History
1.1 Origins in myth and legend
1.2 Avalokiteśvara's 'Dalai Lama master plan'
1.3 How the Dalai Lama lineage became established
1.4 1st Dalai Lama
1.5 2nd Dalai Lama
1.6 3rd Dalai Lama
1.7 4th Dalai Lama
1.8 5th Dalai Lama
1.8.1 Re-unification of Tibet
1.8.2 Visit to Beijing
1.8.3 Relations with the Qing dynasty
1.8.4 Cultural development
1.8.5 Death of the fifth Dalai Lama
1.9 6th Dalai Lama
1.10 7th Dalai Lama
1.10.1 Dzungar invasion
1.10.2 Enthronement in Lhasa
1.10.3 Exile to Kham
1.10.4 Return to Lhasa
1.10.5 Restoration as Tibet's political leader
1.11 8th Dalai Lama
1.12 9th to 12th Dalai Lamas
1.12.1 9th Dalai Lama
1.12.2 10th Dalai Lama
1.12.3 11th Dalai Lama
1.12.4 12th Dalai Lama
1.13 13th Dalai Lama
1.14 14th Dalai Lama
2 Residences
3 Searching for the reincarnation
3.1 List of Dalai Lamas
4 Future of the position
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
7.1 Citations
7.2 Sources
8 Further reading
9 External links
History
Main article: History of Tibet
Part of a series on
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Dharmachakra
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Key personalities[show]
Teachings[show]
Practices and attainment[show]
Major monasteries[show]
Institutional roles[show]
Festivals[show]
Texts[show]
Art[show]
History and overview[show]
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In Central Asian Buddhist countries, it has been widely believed for the last millennium that Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, has a special relationship with the people of Tibet and intervenes in their fate by incarnating as benevolent rulers and teachers such as the Dalai Lamas. This is according to The Book of Kadam, the main text of the Kadampa school, to which the 1st Dalai Lama, Gendun Drup, first belonged.[18] In fact, this text is said to have laid the foundation for the Tibetans' later identification of the Dalai Lamas as incarnations of Avalokiteśvara.[19][better source needed]
It traces the legend of the bodhisattva's incarnations as early Tibetan kings and emperors such as Songtsen Gampo and later as Dromtönpa (1004–1064).[20]
This lineage has been extrapolated by Tibetans up to and including the Dalai Lamas.[21]
Origins in myth and legend
Thus, according to such sources, an informal line of succession of the present Dalai Lamas as incarnations of Avalokiteśvara stretches back much further than Gendun Drub. The Book of Kadam,[22] the compilation of Kadampa teachings largely composed around discussions between the Indian sage Atiśa (980–1054) and his Tibetan host and chief disciple Dromtönpa[23][24] and ‘Tales of the Previous Incarnations of Arya Avalokiteśvara’,[25] nominate as many as sixty persons prior to Gendun Drub who are enumerated as earlier incarnations of Avalokiteśvara and predecessors in the same lineage leading up to him. In brief, these include a mythology of 36 Indian personalities plus 10 early Tibetan kings and emperors, all said to be previous incarnations of Dromtönpa, and fourteen further Nepalese and Tibetan yogis and sages in between him and the 1st Dalai Lama.[26] In fact, according to the "Birth to Exile" article on the 14th Dalai Lama's website, he is "the seventy-fourth in a lineage that can be traced back to a Brahmin boy who lived in the time of Buddha Shakyamuni."[27]
Avalokiteśvara's 'Dalai Lama master plan'
According to the 14th Dalai Lama, long ago Avalokiteśvara had promised the Buddha to guide and protect the Tibetan people and in the late Middle Ages, his master plan to fulfill this promise was the stage-by-stage establishment of the Dalai Lama theocracy in Tibet.[28]
First, Tsongkhapa established three great monasteries around Lhasa in the province of Ü before he died in 1419.[29] The 1st Dalai Lama soon became Abbot of the greatest one, Drepung, and developed a large popular power base in Ü. He later extended this to cover Tsang,[30] where he constructed a fourth great monastery, Tashi Lhunpo, at Shigatse.[31] The 2nd studied there before returning to Lhasa,[28] where he became Abbot of Drepung.[32] Having reactivated the 1st's large popular followings in Tsang and Ü,[33] the 2nd then moved on to southern Tibet and gathered more followers there who helped him construct a new monastery, Chokorgyel.[34] He also established the method by which later Dalai Lama incarnations would be discovered through visions at the 'oracle lake', Lhamo Lhatso.[35] The 3rd built on his predecessors' fame by becoming Abbot of the two great monasteries of Drepung and Sera.[35] The stage was set for the great Mongol King Altan Khan, hearing of his reputation, to invite the 3rd to Mongolia where he converted the King and his followers to Buddhism, as well as other Mongol princes and their followers covering a vast tract of central Asia. Thus most of Mongolia was added to the Dalai Lama's sphere of influence, founding a spiritual empire which largely survives to the modern age.[36] After being given the Mongolian name 'Dalai',[37] he returned to Tibet to found the great monasteries of Lithang in Kham, eastern Tibet and Kumbum in Amdo, north-eastern Tibet.[38] The 4th was then born in Mongolia as the great grandson of Altan Khan, thus cementing strong ties between Central Asia, the Dalai Lamas, the Gelugpa and Tibet.[39] Finally, in fulfilment of Avalokiteśvara's master plan, the 5th in the succession used the vast popular power base of devoted followers built up by his four predecessors. By 1642, a strategy that was planned and carried out by his resourceful chagdzo or manager Sonam Rapten with the military assistance of his devoted disciple Gushri Khan, Chieftain of the Khoshut Mongols, enabled the 'Great 5th' to found the Dalai Lamas' religious and political reign over more or less the whole of Tibet that survived for over 300 years.[40]
Thus the Dalai Lamas became pre-eminent spiritual leaders in Tibet and 25 Himalayan and Central Asian kingdoms and countries bordering Tibet and their prolific literary works have "for centuries acted as major sources of spiritual and philosophical inspiration to more than fifty million people of these lands".[41] Overall, they have played 'a monumental role in Asian literary, philosophical and religious history'.[42]
How the Dalai Lama lineage became established
Gendun Drup (1391–1474), a disciple of the founder Je Tsongkapa,[43] was the ordination name of the monk who came to be known as the 'First Dalai Lama', but only from 104 years after he died.[44] There had been resistance, since first he was ordained a monk in the Kadampa tradition[34] and for various reasons, for hundreds of years the Kadampa school had eschewed the adoption of the tulku system to which the older schools adhered.[45] Tsongkhapa largely modelled his new, reformed Gelugpa school on the Kadampa tradition and refrained from starting a tulku system.[46] Therefore, although Gendun Drup grew to be a very important Gelugpa lama, after he died in 1474 there was no question of any search being made to identify his incarnation.[45]
Despite this, when the Tashilhunpo monks started hearing what seemed credible accounts that an incarnation of Gendun Drup had appeared nearby and repeatedly announced himself from the age of two, their curiosity was aroused.[47] It was some 55 years after Tsongkhapa's death. When eventually the monastic authorities saw compelling evidence which convinced them that the child in question was indeed the incarnation of their founder, they felt obliged to break with their own tradition. In 1487, the boy was renamed Gendun Gyatso and installed at Tashilhunpo as Gendun Drup's tulku, albeit informally.[48]
Gendun Gyatso died in 1542 and the lineage of Dalai Lama tulkus finally became firmly established when the third incarnation, Sonam Gyatso (1543–1588), came forth. He made himself known as the tulku of Gendun Gyatso and was formally recognised and enthroned at Drepung in 1546.[49] When he was given the titular name "Dalai Lama" by the Tümed Altan Khan in 1578,[50]:153 it was also accorded to his last two predecessors and he became known as the third in the lineage.[44]
1st Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama lineage started from humble beginnings.[51] 'Pema Dorje' (1391–1474), the boy who was to become the first in the line, was born in a cattle pen[52] in Shabtod, Tsang in 1391.[34] His nomad parents kept sheep and goats and lived in tents. When his father died in 1398 his mother was unable to support the young goatherd so she entrusted him to his uncle, a monk at Narthang, a major Kadampa monastery near Shigatse, for education as a Buddhist monk.[53] Narthang ran the largest printing press in Tibet[54] and its celebrated library attracted scholars and adepts from far and wide, so Pema Dorje received an education beyond the norm at the time as well as exposure to diverse spiritual schools and ideas.[55] He studied Buddhist philosophy extensively and in 1405, ordained by Narthang's abbot, he took the name of Gendun Drup.[34] Soon recognised as an exceptionally gifted pupil, the abbot tutored him personally and took special interest in his progress.[55] In 12 years he passed the 12 grades of monkhood and took the highest vows.[52] After completing his intensive studies at Narthang he left to continue at specialist monasteries in Central Tibet, his grounding at Narthang was revered among many he encountered.[56]
In 1415 Gendun Drup met Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelugpa school, and became his student; their meeting was of decisive historical and political significance as he was later to be known as the 1st Dalai Lama.[57] When eventually Tsongkhapa's successor Khedrup Je, the Panchen Lama died, Gendun Drup became the leader of the Gelugpa.[52] He rose to become Abbot of Drepung, the greatest Gelugpa monastery, outside Lhasa.[32]
It was mainly due to Gendun Drup's energy and ability that Tsongkhapa's new school grew into an expanding order capable of competing with others on an equal footing.[58] Taking advantage of good relations with the nobility and a lack of determined opposition from rival orders, on the very edge of Karma Kagyu-dominated territory he founded Tashilhunpo Monastery at Shigatse.[58] He was based there, as its Abbot, from its founding in 1447 until his death.[59] Tashilhunpo, 'Mountain of Blessings', became the fourth great Gelugpa monastery in Tibet, after Ganden, Drepung and Sera had all been founded in Tsongkhapa's time.[29] It later became the seat of the Panchen Lamas.[60] By establishing it at Shigatse in the middle of Tsang, he expanded the Gelugpa sphere of influence, and his own, from the Lhasa region of Ü to this province, which was the stronghold of the Karma Kagyu school and their patrons, the rising Tsangpa dynasty.[29][61] Tashilhunpo was destined to become 'Southern Tibet's greatest monastic university'[62] with a complement of 3,000 monks.[34]
Gendun Drup was said to be the greatest scholar-saint ever produced by Narthang Monastery[62] and became 'the single most important lama in Tibet'.[63] Through hard work he became a leading lama, known as 'Perfecter of the Monkhood', 'with a host of disciples'.[60] Famed for his Buddhist scholarship he was also referred to as Panchen Gendun Drup, 'Panchen' being an honorary title designating 'great scholar'.[34] By the great Jonangpa master Bodong Chokley Namgyal[64] he was accorded the honorary title Tamchey Khyenpa meaning "The Omniscient One", an appellation that was later assigned to all Dalai Lama incarnations.[65]
At the age of 50, he entered meditation retreat at Narthang. As he grew older, Karma Kagyu adherents, finding their sect was losing too many recruits to the monkhood to burgeoning Gelugpa monasteries, tried to contain Gelug expansion by launching military expeditions against them in the region.[66] This led to decades of military and political power struggles between Tsangpa dynasty forces and others across central Tibet.[67] In an attempt to ameliorate these clashes, from his retreat Gendun Drup issued a poem of advice to his followers advising restraint from responding to violence with more violence and to practice compassion and patience instead. The poem, entitled Shar Gang Rima, "The Song of the Eastern Snow Mountains", became one of his most enduring popular literary works.[68]
Although he was born in a cattle pen to be a simple goatherd, Gendun Drup rose to become one of the most celebrated and respected teachers in Tibet and Central Asia. His spiritual accomplishments brought him lavish donations from devotees which he used to build and furnish new monasteries, to print and distribute Buddhist texts and to maintain monks and meditators.[69] At last, at the age of 84, older than any of his 13 successors, in 1474 he went on foot to visit Narthang Monastery on a final teaching tour. Returning to Tashilhunpo[70] he died 'in a blaze of glory, recognised as having attained Buddhahood'.[60]
His mortal remains were interred in a bejewelled silver stupa at Tashilhunpo, which survived the Cultural Revolution and can still be seen.[45]
2nd Dalai Lama
Like the Kadampa, the Gelugpa eschewed the tulku system.[71] After Gendun Drup died, however, a boy called Sangyey Pel born to Nyngma adepts at Yolkar in Tsang,[34][72] declared himself at 3 to be "Gendun Drup" and asked to be 'taken home' to Tashilhunpo. He spoke in mystical verses, quoted classical texts out of the blue[73] and said he was Dromtönpa, an earlier incarnation of the Dalai Lamas.[74] When he saw monks from Tashilhunpo he greeted the disciples of the late Gendun Drup by name.[75] The Gelugpa elders had to break with tradition and recognised him as Gendun Drup's tulku.[48]
He was then 8, but until his 12th year his father took him on his teachings and retreats, training him in all the family Nyingma lineages.[76] At 12 he was installed at Tashilhunpo as Gendun Drup's incarnation, ordained, enthroned and renamed Gendun Gyatso Palzangpo (1475–1542).[48]
Tutored personally by the abbot he made rapid progress and from 1492 at 17 he was requested to teach all over Tsang, where thousands gathered to listen and give obeisance, including senior scholars and abbots.[77] In 1494, at 19, he met some opposition from the Tashilhunpo establishment when tensions arose over conflicts between advocates of the two types of succession, the traditional abbatial election through merit, and incarnation. Although he had served for some years as Tashilhunpo's abbot, he therefore moved to central Tibet, where he was invited to Drepung and where his reputation as a brilliant young teacher quickly grew.[78][79] He was accorded all the loyalty and devotion that Gendun Drup had earned and the Gelug school remained as united as ever.[29] This move had the effect of shifting central Gelug authority back to Lhasa. Under his leadership, the sect went on growing in size and influence[80] and with its appeal of simplicity, devotion and austerity its lamas were asked to mediate in disputes between other rivals.[81]
Gendun Gyatso's popularity in Ü-Tsang grew as he went on pilgrimage, travelling, teaching and studying from masters such as the adept Khedrup Norzang Gyatso in the Olklha mountains.[82] He also stayed in Kongpo and Dagpo[83] and became known all over Tibet.[35] He spent his winters in Lhasa, writing commentaries and the rest of the year travelling and teaching many thousands of monks and lay people.[84]
In 1509 he moved to southern Tibet to build Chokorgyel Monastery near the 'Oracle Lake', Lhamo Latso,[35] completing it by 1511.[85] That year he saw visions in the lake and 'empowered' it to impart clues to help identify incarnate lamas. All Dalai Lamas from the 3rd on were found with the help of such visions granted to regents.[35][86] By now widely regarded as one of Tibet's greatest saints and scholars[87] he was invited back to Tashilhunpo. On his return in 1512, he was given the residence built for Gendun Drup, to be occupied later by the Panchen Lamas.[34] He was made abbot of Tashilhunpo[88] and stayed there teaching in Tsang for 9 months.[89]
Gendun Gyatso continued to travel widely and teach while based at Tibet's largest monastery, Drepung and became known as 'Drepung Lama',[80] his fame and influence spreading all over Central Asia as the best students from hundreds of lesser monasteries in Asia were sent to Drepung for education.[85]
Throughout Gendun Gyatso's life, the Gelugpa were opposed and suppressed by older rivals, particularly the Karma Kagyu and their Ringpung clan patrons from Tsang, who felt threatened by their loss of influence.[90] In 1498 the Ringpung army captured Lhasa and banned the Gelugpa annual New Year Monlam Prayer Festival[90] started by Tsongkhapa for world peace and prosperity.[91] Gendun Gyatso was promoted to abbot of Drepung in 1517[85] and that year Ringpung forces were forced to withdraw from Lhasa.[90][92] Gendun Gyatso then went to the Gongma (King) Drakpa Jungne[93] to obtain permission for the festival to be held again.[91] The next New Year, the Gongma was so impressed by Gendun Gyatso's performance leading the Festival that he sponsored construction of a large new residence for him at Drepung, 'a monastery within a monastery'.[91] It was called the Ganden Phodrang, a name later adopted by the Tibetan Government,[34] and it served as home for Dalai Lamas until the Fifth moved to the Potala Palace in 1645.
In 1525, already abbot of Chokhorgyel, Drepung and Tashilhunpo, he was made abbot of Sera monastery as well, and seeing the number of monks was low he worked to increase it.[94] Based at Drepung in winter and Chokorgyel in summer, he spent his remaining years in composing commentaries, regional teaching tours, visiting Tashilhunpo from time to time and acting as abbot of these four great monasteries.[94] As abbot, he made Drepung the largest monastery in the whole of Tibet.[95] He attracted many students and disciples 'from Kashmir to China'[94] as well as major patrons and disciples such as Gongma Nangso Donyopa of Droda who built a monastery at Zhekar Dzong in his honour and invited him to name it and be its spiritual guide.[96]
Gongma Gyaltsen Palzangpo of Khyomorlung at Tolung and his Queen Sangyey Paldzomma also became his favourite devoted lay patrons and disciples in the 1530s and he visited their area to carry out rituals as 'he chose it for his next place of rebirth'.[97] He died in meditation at Drepung in 1547 at 67 and his reliquary stupa was constructed at Khyomorlung.[98] It was said that, by the time he died, through his disciples and their students, his personal influence covered the whole of Buddhist Central Asia where 'there was nobody of any consequence who did not know of him'.[98]
3rd Dalai Lama
The Third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso (1543–1588) was born in Tolung, near Lhasa,[99] as predicted by his predecessor.[97] Claiming he was Gendun Gyatso and readily recalling events from his previous life, he was recognised as the incarnation, named 'Sonam Gyatso' and installed at Drepung, where 'he quickly excelled his teachers in knowledge and wisdom and developed extraordinary powers'.[100] Unlike his predecessors, he came from a noble family, connected with the Sakya and the Phagmo Drupa (Karma Kagyu affiliated) dynasties,[95] and it is to him that the effective conversion of Mongolia to Buddhism is due.[60]
A brilliant scholar and teacher,[101] he had the spiritual maturity to be made Abbot of Drepung,[102] taking responsibility for the material and spiritual well-being of Tibet's largest monastery at the age of nine. At 10 he led the Monlam Prayer Festival, giving daily discourses to the assembly of all Gelugpa monks.[103] His influence grew so quickly that soon the monks at Sera Monastery also made him their Abbot[35] and his mediation was being sought to prevent fighting between political power factions. At 16, in 1559, he was invited to Nedong by King Ngawang Tashi Drakpa, a Karma Kagyu supporter, and became his personal teacher. At 17, when fighting broke out in Lhasa between Gelug and Kagyu parties and efforts by local lamas to mediate failed, Sonam Gyatso negotiated a peaceful settlement. At 19, when the Kyichu River burst its banks and flooded Lhasa, he led his followers to rescue victims and repair the dykes. He then instituted a custom whereby on the last day of Monlam, all the monks would work on strengthening the flood defences.[99] Gradually, he was shaping himself into a national leader.[104] His popularity and renown became such that in 1564 when the Nedong King died, it was Sonam Gyatso at the age of 21 who was requested to lead his funeral rites, rather than his own Kagyu lamas.[35]
Required to travel and teach without respite after taking full ordination in 1565, he still maintained extensive meditation practices in the hours before dawn and again at the end of the day.[105] In 1569, at age 26, he went to Tashilhunpo to study the layout and administration of the monastery built by his predecessor Gendun Drup. Invited to become the Abbot he declined, already being Abbot of Drepung and Sera, but left his deputy there in his stead.[106] From there he visited Narthang, the first monastery of Gendun Drup and gave numerous discourses and offerings to the monks in gratitude.[105]
Meanwhile, Altan Khan, chief of all the Mongol tribes near China's borders, had heard of Sonam Gyatso's spiritual prowess and repeatedly invited him to Mongolia.[95] By 1571, when Altan Khan received a title of Shunyi Wang (King) from the Ming dynasty of China[107] and swore allegiance to Ming,[108] although he remained de facto quite independent,[50]:106 he had fulfilled his political destiny and a nephew advised him to seek spiritual salvation, saying that "in Tibet dwells Avalokiteshvara", referring to Sonam Gyatso, then 28 years old.[109] China was also happy to help Altan Khan by providing necessary translations of holy scripture, and also lamas.[110] At the second invitation, in 1577–78 Sonam Gyatso travelled 1,500 miles to Mongolia to see him. They met in an atmosphere of intense reverence and devotion[111] and their meeting resulted in the re-establishment of strong Tibet-Mongolia relations after a gap of 200 years.[95] To Altan Khan, Sonam Gyatso identified himself as the incarnation of Drogön Chögyal Phagpa, and Altan Khan as that of Kubilai Khan, thus placing the Khan as heir to the Chingizid lineage whilst securing his patronage.[112] Altan Khan and his followers quickly adopted Buddhism as their state religion, replacing the prohibited traditional Shamanism.[101] Mongol law was reformed to accord with Tibetan Buddhist law. From this time Buddhism spread rapidly across Mongolia[112] and soon the Gelugpa had won the spiritual allegiance of most of the Mongolian tribes.[101] As proposed by Sonam Gyatso, Altan Khan sponsored the building of Thegchen Chonkhor Monastery at the site of Sonam Gyatso's open-air teachings given to the whole Mongol population. He also called Sonam Gyatso "Dalai", Mongolian for 'Gyatso' (Ocean).[113]
The name "Dalai Lama", by which the lineage later became known throughout the non-Tibetan world, was thus established and it was applied to the first two incarnations retrospectively.[44]
Returning eventually to Tibet by a roundabout route and invited to stay and teach all along the way, in 1580 Sonam Gyatso was in Hohhot [or Ningxia], not far from Beijing, when the Chinese Emperor invited him to his court.[114][115] By then he had established a religious empire of such proportions that it was unsurprising the Emperor wanted to invite him and grant him a diploma.[111] At the request of the Ningxia Governor he had been teaching large gatherings of people from East Turkestan, Mongolia and nearby areas of China, with interpreters provided by the governor for each language. While there, a Ming court envoy came with gifts and a request to visit the Wanli Emperor but he declined having already agreed to visit Eastern Tibet next. Once there, in Kham, he founded two more great Gelugpa monasteries, the first in 1580 at Lithang where he left his representative before going on to Chamdo Monastery where he resided and was made Abbot. Through Altan Khan, the 3rd Dalai Lama requested to pay tribute to the Emperor of China in order to raise his State Tutor ranking, the Ming imperial court of China agreed with the request.[116] In 1582, he heard Altan Khan had died and invited by his son Dhüring Khan he decided to return to Mongolia. Passing through Amdo, he founded a second great monastery, Kumbum, at the birthplace of Tsongkhapa near Kokonor.[115] Further on, he was asked to adjudicate on border disputes between Mongolia and China. It was the first time a Dalai Lama had exercised such political authority.[117] Arriving in Mongolia in 1585, he stayed 2 years with Dhüring Khan, teaching Buddhism to his people[115] and converting more Mongol princes and their tribes. Receiving a second invitation from the Emperor in Beijing he accepted, but died en route in 1588.[118]
For a lifetime of only 45 years, his accomplishments were impressive and some of the most important ones were due to his relationship with Altan Khan.[118] As he was dying, his Mongolian converts urged him not to leave them, as they needed his continuing religious leadership. He promised them he would be incarnated next in Mongolia, as a Mongolian.[117]
4th Dalai Lama
The Fourth Dalai Lama, Yonten Gyatso (1589–1617) was a Mongolian, the great-grandson of Altan Khan[119] who was a descendant of Kublai Khan and King of the Tümed Mongols who had already been converted to Buddhism by the Third Dalai Lama, Sonam Gyatso (1543–1588).[32] This strong connection caused the Mongols to zealously support the Gelugpa sect in Tibet, strengthening their status and position but also arousing intensified opposition from the Gelugpa's rivals, particularly the Tsang Karma Kagyu in Shigatse and their Mongolian patrons and the Bönpo in Kham and their allies.[32] Being the newest school, unlike the older schools the Gelugpa lacked an established network of Tibetan clan patronage and were thus more reliant on foreign patrons.[120] At the age of 10 with a large Mongol escort he travelled to Lhasa where he was enthroned. He studied at Drepung and became its abbot but being a non-Tibetan he met with opposition from some Tibetans, especially the Karma Kagyu who felt their position was threatened by these emerging events; there were several attempts to remove him from power.[121] Yonten Gyatso died at the age of 27 under suspicious circumstances and his chief attendant Sonam Rapten went on to discover the 5th Dalai Lama, became his chagdzo or manager and after 1642 he went on to be his regent, the Desi.[122]
5th Dalai Lama
Güshi Khan
Map showing the extent of the Khoshut Khanate, 1642–1717, after the Unification of Tibet under the 5th Dalai Lama with Sonam Chöphel and Güshi Khan
'Greater Tibet' as claimed by exiled groups
The death of the Fourth Dalai Lama in 1617 led to open conflict breaking out between various parties.[120] Firstly, the Tsangpa dynasty, rulers of Central Tibet from Shigatse, supporters of the Karmapa school and rivals to the Gelugpa, forbade the search for his incarnation.[123] However, in 1618 Sonam Rabten, the former attendant of the 4th Dalai Lama who had become the Ganden Phodrang treasurer, secretly identified the child,[124] who had been born to the noble Zahor family at Tagtse castle, south of Lhasa. Then, the Panchen Lama, in Shigatse, negotiated the lifting of the ban, enabling the boy to be recognised as Lobsang Gyatso, the 5th Dalai Lama.[123]
Also in 1618, the Tsangpa King, Karma Puntsok Namgyal, whose Mongol patron was Choghtu Khong Tayiji of the Khalkha Mongols, attacked the Gelugpa in Lhasa to avenge an earlier snub and established two military bases there to control the monasteries and the city. This caused Sonam Rabten who became the 5th Dalai Lama's changdzo or manager,[125] to seek more active Mongol patronage and military assistance for the Gelugpa while the Fifth was still a boy.[120] So, in 1620, Mongol troops allied to the Gelugpa who had camped outside Lhasa suddenly attacked and destroyed the two Tsangpa camps and drove them out of Lhasa, enabling the Dalai Lama to be brought out of hiding and publicly enthroned there in 1622.[124]
In fact, throughout the 5th's minority, it was the influential and forceful Sonam Rabten who inspired the Dzungar Mongols to defend the Gelugpa by attacking their enemies. These enemies included other Mongol tribes who supported the Tsangpas, the Tsangpa themselves and their Bönpo allies in Kham who had also opposed and persecuted Gelugpas. Ultimately, this strategy led to the destruction of the Tsangpa dynasty, the defeat of the Karmapas and their other allies and the Bönpos, by armed forces from the Lhasa valley aided by their Mongol allies, paving the way for Gelugpa political and religious hegemony in Central Tibet.[123] Apparently by general consensus, by virtue of his position as the Dalai Lama's changdzo (chief attendant, minister), after the Dalai Lama became absolute ruler of Tibet in 1642 Sonam Rabten became the "Desi" or "Viceroy", in fact, the de facto regent or day-to-day ruler of Tibet's governmental affairs. During these years and for the rest of his life (he died in 1658), "there was little doubt that politically Sonam Chophel [Rabten] was more powerful than the Dalai Lama".[126] As a young man, being 22 years his junior, the Dalai Lama addressed him reverentially as "Zhalngo", meaning "the Presence".[127]
During the 1630s Tibet was deeply entangled in rivalry, evolving power struggles and conflicts, not only between the Tibetan religious sects but also between the rising Manchus and the various rival Mongol and Oirat factions, who were also vying for supremacy amongst themselves and on behalf of the religious sects they patronised.[120] For example, Ligdan Khan of the Chahars, a Mongol subgroup who supported the Tsang Karmapas, after retreating from advancing Manchu armies headed for Kokonor intending destroy the Gelug. He died on the way, in 1634[128] but his vassal Choghtu Khong Tayiji, continued to advance against the Gelugpas, even having his own son Arslan killed after Arslan changed sides, submitted to the Dalai Lama and become a Gelugpa monk.[129] By the mid-1630s, thanks again to the efforts of Sonam Rabten,[123] the 5th Dalai Lama had found a powerful new patron in Güshi Khan of the Khoshut Mongols, a subgroup of the Dzungars, who had recently migrated to the Kokonor area from Dzungaria.[120] He attacked Choghtu Khong Tayiji at Kokonor in 1637 and defeated and killed him, thus eliminating the Tsangpa and the Karmapa's main Mongol patron and protector.[120]
Next, Donyo Dorje, the Bönpo king of Beri in Kham was found writing to the Tsangpa king in Shigatse to propose a co-ordinated 'pincer attack' on the Lhasa Gelugpa monasteries from east and west, seeking to utterly destroy them once and for all.[130] The intercepted letter was sent to Güshi Khan who used it as a pretext to invade central Tibet in 1639 to attack them both, the Bönpo and the Tsangpa. By 1641 he had defeated Donyo Dorje and his allies in Kham and then he marched on Shigatse where after laying siege to their strongholds he defeated Karma Tenkyong, broke the power of the Tsang Karma Kagyu in 1642 and ended the Tsangpa dynasty.[131]
Güshi Khan's attack on the Tsangpa was made on the orders of Sonam Rapten while being publicly and robustly opposed by the Dalai Lama, who, as a matter of conscience, out of compassion and his vision of tolerance for other religious schools, refused to give permission for more warfare in his name after the defeat of the Beri king.[126][132] Sonam Rabten deviously went behind his master's back to encourage Güshi Khan, to facilitate his plans and to ensure the attacks took place;[123] for this defiance of his master's wishes, Rabten was severely rebuked by the 5th Dalai Lama.[132]
After Desi Sonam Rapten died in 1658, the following year the 5th Dalai Lama appointed his younger brother Depa Norbu (aka Nangso Norbu) as his successor.[133] However after a few months, Norbu betrayed him and led a rebellion against the Ganden Phodrang Government. With his accomplices he seized Samdruptse fort at Shigatse and tried to raise a rebel army from Tsang and Bhutan, but the Dalai Lama skilfully foiled his plans without any fighting taking place and Norbu had to flee.[134] Four other Desis were appointed after Depa Norbu: Trinle Gyatso, Lozang Tutop, Lozang Jinpa and Sangye Gyatso.[135]
Re-unification of Tibet
Having thus defeated all the Gelugpa's rivals and resolved all regional and sectarian conflicts Güshi Khan became the undisputed patron of a unified Tibet and acted as a "Protector of the Gelug",[136] establishing the Khoshut Khanate which covered almost the entire Tibetan plateau, an area corresponding roughly to 'Greater Tibet' including Kham and Amdo, as claimed by exiled groups (see maps). At an enthronement ceremony in Shigatse he conferred full sovereignty over Tibet on the Fifth Dalai Lama,[137] unified for the first time since the collapse of the Tibetan Empire exactly eight centuries earlier.[120][138] Güshi Khan then retired to Kokonor with his armies[120] and [according to Smith] ruled Amdo himself directly thus creating a precedent for the later separation of Amdo from the rest of Tibet.[138]
In this way, Güshi Khan established the Fifth Dalai Lama as the highest spiritual and political authority in Tibet. 'The Great Fifth' became the temporal ruler of Tibet in 1642 and from then on the rule of the Dalai Lama lineage over some, all or most of Tibet lasted with few breaks for the next 317 years, until 1959, when the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India.[139] In 1645, the Great Fifth began the construction of the Potala Palace in Lhasa.[140]
Güshi Khan died in 1655 and was succeeded by his descendants Dayan, Tenzin Dalai Khan and Tenzin Wangchuk Khan. However, Güshi Khan's other eight sons had settled in Amdo but fought amongst themselves over territory so the Fifth Dalai Lama sent governors to rule them in 1656 and 1659, thereby bringing Amdo and thus the whole of Greater Tibet under his personal rule and Gelugpa control. The Mongols in Amdo became absorbed and Tibetanised.[141]
Visit to Beijing
In 1636 the Manchus proclaimed their dynasty as the Qing dynasty and by 1644 they had completed their conquest of China under the prince regent Dorgon. The following year their forces approached Amdo on northern Tibet, causing the Oirat and Khoshut Mongols there to submit in 1647 and send tribute. In 1648, after quelling a rebellion of Tibetans of Kansu-Xining, the Qing invited the Fifth Dalai Lama to visit their court at Beijing since they wished to engender Tibetan influence in their dealings with the Mongols. The Qing were aware the Dalai Lama had extraordinary influence with the Mongols and saw relations with the Dalai Lama as a means to facilitate submission of the Khalka Mongols, traditional patrons of the Karma Kagyu sect. Similarly, since the Tibetan Gelugpa were keen to revive a priest-patron relationship with the dominant power in China and Inner Asia, the Qing invitation was accepted. After five years of complex diplomatic negotiations about whether the emperor or his representatives should meet the Dalai Lama inside or outside the Great Wall, when the meeting would be astrologically favourable, how it would be conducted and so on, it eventually took place in Beijing in 1653. The Shunzhi Emperor was then 16 years old, having in the meantime ascended the throne in 1650 after the death of Dorgon. For the Qing, although the Dalai Lama was not required to kowtow to the emperor, who rose from his throne and advanced 30 feet to meet him, the significance of the visit was that of nominal political submission by the Dalai Lama since Inner Asian heads of state did not travel to meet each other but sent envoys. For Tibetan Buddhist historians however it was interpreted as the start of an era of independent rule of the Dalai Lamas, and of Qing patronage alongside that of the Mongols.[142]
When the 5th Dalai Lama returned, he was granted by the emperor of China a golden seal of authority and golden sheets with texts written in Manchu, Tibetan and Chinese languages.[143][144] The 5th Dalai Lama wanted to use the golden seal of authority right away.[143] However, Lobzang Gyatsho noted that "The Tibetan version of the inscription of the seal was translated by a Mongolian translator but was not a good translation". After correction, it read: "The one who resides in the Western peaceful and virtuous paradise is unalterable Vajradhara, Ocen Lama, unifier of the doctrines of the Buddha for all beings under the sky". The words of the diploma ran: "Proclamation, to let all the people of the western hemisphere know".[144] Tibetan historian Nyima Gyaincain points out that based on the texts written on golden sheets, Dalai Lama was only a subordinate of the Emperor of China.[145]
However, despite such patronising attempts by Chinese officials and historians to symbolically show for the record that they held political influence over Tibet, the Tibetans themselves did not accept any such symbols imposed on them by the Chinese with this kind of motive. For example, concerning the above-mentioned 'golden seal', the Fifth Dalai Lama comments in Dukula, his autobiography, on leaving China after this courtesy visit to the emperor in 1653, that "the emperor made his men bring a golden seal for me that had three vertical lines in three parallel scripts: Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan". He also criticised the words carved on this gift as being faultily translated into Tibetan, writing that "The Tibetan version of the inscription of the seal was translated by a Mongol translator but was not a good translation".[144] Furthermore, when he arrived back in Tibet, he discarded the emperor's famous golden seal and made a new one for important state usage, writing in his autobiography: "Leaving out the Chinese characters that were on the seal given by the emperor, a new seal was carved for stamping documents that dealt with territorial issues. The first imprint of the seal was offered with prayers to the image of Lokeshvara ...".[146]
Relations with the Qing dynasty
The 17th-century struggles for domination between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the various Mongol groups spilled over to involve Tibet because of the Fifth Dalai Lama's strong influence over the Mongols as a result of their general adoption of Tibetan Buddhism and their consequent deep loyalty to the Dalai Lama as their guru. Until 1674, the Fifth Dalai Lama had mediated in Dzungar Mongol affairs whenever they required him to do so, and the Kangxi Emperor, who had succeeded the Shunzhi Emperor in 1661, would accept and confirm his decisions automatically. For the Kangxi Emperor however, the alliance between the Dzungar Mongols and the Tibetans was unsettling because he feared it had the potential to unite all the other Mongol tribes together against the Qing Empire, including those tribes who had already submitted. Therefore, in 1674, the Kangxi Emperor, annoyed by the Fifth's less than full cooperation in quelling a rebellion against the Qing in Yunnan, ceased deferring to him as regards Mongol affairs and started dealing with them directly.[147]
In the same year, 1674, the Dalai Lama, then at the height of his powers and conducting a foreign policy independent of the Qing, caused Mongol troops to occupy the border post of Dartsedo between Kham and Sichuan, further annoying the Kangxi Emperor who (according to Smith) already considered Tibet as part of the Qing Empire. It also increased Qing suspicion about Tibetan relations with the Mongol groups and led him to seek strategic opportunities to oppose and undermine Mongol influence in Tibet and eventually, within 50 years, to defeat the Mongols militarily and to establish the Qing as sole 'patrons and protectors' of Tibet in their place.[147]
Cultural development
The time of the Fifth Dalai Lama, who reigned from 1642 to 1682 and founded the government known as the Ganden Phodrang, was a period of rich cultural development.[148] His reign and that of Desi Sangye Gyatso are noteworthy for the upsurge in literary activity and of cultural and economic life that occurred. The same goes for the great increase in the number of foreign visitors thronging Lhasa during the period as well as for the number of inventions and institutions that are attributed to the 'Great Fifth', as the Tibetans refer to him.[149] The most dynamic and prolific of the early Dalai Lamas, he composed more literary works than all the other Dalai Lamas combined. Writing on a wide variety of subjects he is specially noted for his works on history, classical Indian poetry in Sanskrit and his biographies of notable personalities of his epoch, as well as his own two autobiographies, one spiritual in nature and the other political (see Further Reading).[150] He also taught and travelled extensively, reshaped the politics of Central Asia, unified Tibet, conceived and constructed the Potala Palace and is remembered for establishing systems of national medical care and education.[150]
Death of the fifth Dalai Lama
The Fifth Dalai Lama died in 1682. Tibetan historian Nyima Gyaincain points out that the written wills from the fifth Dalai Lama before he died explicitly said his title and authority were from the Emperor of China, and he was subordinate of the Emperor of China .[145]
The Fifth Dalai Lama's death in 1682 was kept secret for fifteen years by his regent Desi Sangye Gyatso. He pretended the Dalai Lama was in retreat and ruled on his behalf, secretly selecting the 6th Dalai Lama and presenting him as someone else. Tibetan historian Nyima Gyaincain points out that Desi Sangye Gyatso wanted to consolidate his personal status and power by not reporting the death of the fifth Dalai Lama to the Emperor of China, and also collude with the rebellion group of the Qing dynasty, Mongol Dzungar tribe in order to counter influence from another Mongol Khoshut tribe in Tibet. Being afraid of prosecution by the Kangxi Emperor of China, Desi Sangye Gyatso explained with fear and trepidation the reason behind his action to the Emperor. In 1705, Desi Sangye Gyatso was killed by Lha-bzang Khan of the Mongol Khoshut tribe because of his actions including his illegal action of selecting the 6th Dalai Lama. Since the Kangxi Emperor was not happy about Desi Sangye Gyatso's action of not reporting, the Emperor gave Lha-bzang Khan additional title and golden seal. The Kangxi Emperor also ordered Lha-bzang Khan to arrest the 6th Dalai Lama and send him to Beijing, the 6th Dalai Lama died when he was en route to Beijing.[145] Journalist Thomas Laird argues that it was apparently done so that construction of the Potala Palace could be finished, and it was to prevent Tibet's neighbors, the Mongols and the Qing, from taking advantage of an interregnum in the succession of the Dalai Lamas.(Laird 2006, pp. 181–182)
6th Dalai Lama
The Sixth Dalai Lama (1683–1706) was born near Tawang, now in India, and picked out in 1685 but not enthroned until 1697 when the death of the Fifth was announced. After 16 years of study as a novice monk, in 1702 in his 20th year he rejected full ordination and gave up his monk's robes and monastic life, preferring the lifestyle of a layman.[151][152]
In 1703 Güshi Khan's ruling grandson Tenzin Wangchuk Khan was murdered by his brother Lhazang Khan who usurped the Khoshut's Tibetan throne, but unlike his four predecessors he started interfering directly in Tibetan affairs in Lhasa; he opposed the Fifth Dalai Lama's regent, Desi Sangye Gyatso for his deceptions and in the same year, with the support of the Kangxi Emperor, he forced him out of office. Then in 1705, he used the Sixth's escapades as an excuse to seize full control of Tibet. Most Tibetans, though, still supported their Dalai Lama despite his behaviour and deeply resented Lhazang Khan's interference. When Lhazang was requested by the Tibetans to leave Lhasa politics to them and to retire to Kokonor like his predecessors, he quit the city, but only to gather his armies in order to return, capture Lhasa militarily and assume full political control of Tibet.[153] The regent was then murdered by Lhazang or his wife, and, in 1706 with the compliance of the Kangxi Emperor the Sixth Dalai Lama was deposed and arrested by Lhazang who considered him to be an impostor set up by the regent. Lhazang Khan, now acting as the only outright foreign ruler that Tibet had ever had, then sent him to Beijing under escort to appear before the emperor but he died mysteriously on the way near Lake Qinghai, ostensibly from illness.[154][155]
Having discredited and deposed the Sixth Dalai Lama, whom he considered an impostor, and having removed the regent, Lhazang Khan pressed the Lhasa Gelugpa lamas to endorse a new Dalai Lama in Tsangyang Gyatso's place as the true incarnation of the Fifth. They eventually nominated one Pekar Dzinpa, a monk but also rumored to be Lhazang's son,[156] and Lhazang had him installed as the 'real' Sixth Dalai Lama, endorsed by the Panchen Lama and named Yeshe Gyatso in 1707.[157] This choice was in no way accepted by the Tibetan people, however, nor by Lhazang's princely Mongol rivals in Kokonor who resented his usurpation of the Khoshut Tibetan throne as well as his meddling in Tibetan affairs. The Kangxi Emperor concurred with them, after sending investigators, initially declining to recognize Yeshe Gyatso. He did recognize him in 1710, however, after sending a Qing official party to assist Lhazang in 'restoring order'; these were the first Chinese representatives of any sort to officiate in Tibet.[155] At the same time, while this puppet 'Dalai Lama' had no political power, the Kangxi Emperor secured from Lhazang Khan in return for this support the promise of regular payments of tribute; this was the first time tribute had been paid to the Manchu by the Mongols in Tibet and the first overt acknowledgment of Qing supremacy over Mongol rule in Tibet.[158]
7th Dalai Lama
In 1708, in accordance with an indication given by the 6th Dalai Lama when quitting Lhasa a child called Kelzang Gyatso had been born at Lithang in eastern Tibet who was soon claimed by local Tibetans to be his incarnation. After going into hiding out of fear of Lhazang Khan, he was installed in Lithang monastery. Along with some of the Kokonor Mongol princes, rivals of Lhazang, in defiance of the situation in Lhasa the Tibetans of Kham duly recognised him as the Seventh Dalai Lama in 1712, retaining his birth-name of Kelzang Gyatso. For security reasons he was moved to Derge monastery and eventually, in 1716, now also backed and sponsored by the Kangxi Emperor of China.[159] The Tibetans asked Dzungars to bring a true Dalai Lama to Lhasa, but the Manchu Chinese did not want to release Kelsan Gyatso to the Mongol Dzungars. The Regent Taktse Shabdrung and Tibetan officials then wrote a letter to the Manchu Chinese Emperor that they recognized Kelsang Gyatso as the Dalai Lama. The Emperor then granted Kelsang Gyatso a golden seal of authority.[160] The Sixth Dalai Lama was taken to Amdo at the age of 8 to be installed in Kumbum Monastery with great pomp and ceremony.[159]
According to Smith, the Kangxi Emperor now arranged to protect the child and keep him at Kumbum monastery in Amdo in reserve just in case his ally Lhasang Khan and his 'real' Sixth Dalai Lama, were overthrown.[161] According to Mullin, however, the emperor's support came from genuine spiritual recognition and respect rather than being politically motivated.[162]
Dzungar invasion
In any case, the Kangxi Emperor took full advantage of having Kelzang Gyatso under Qing control at Kumbum after other Mongols from the Dzungar tribes led by Tsewang Rabtan who was related to his supposed ally Lhazang Khan, deceived and betrayed the latter by invading Tibet and capturing Lhasa in 1717.[163][164]
These Dzungars, who were Buddhist, had supported the Fifth Dalai Lama and his regent. They were secretly petitioned by the Lhasa Gelugpa lamas to invade with their help in order to rid them of their foreign ruler Lhazang Khan and to replace the unpopular Sixth Dalai Lama pretender with the young Kelzang Gyats. This plot suited the devious Dzungar leaders' ambitions and they were only too happy to oblige.[165][166] Early in 1717, after conspiring to undermine Lhazang Khan through treachery they entered Tibet from the northwest with a large army, sending a smaller force to Kumbum to collect Kelzang Gyatso and escort him to Lhasa. By the end of the year, with Tibetan connivance they had captured Lhasa, killed Lhazang and all his family and deposed Yeshe Gyatso. Their force sent to fetch Kelzang Gyatso however was intercepted and destroyed by Qing armies alerted by Lhazang. In Lhasa, the unruly Dzungar not only failed to produce the boy but also went on the rampage, looting and destroying the holy places, abusing the populace, killing hundreds of Nyingma monks, causing chaos and bloodshed and turning their Tibetan allies against them. The Tibetans were soon appealing to the Kangxi Emperor to rid them of the Dzungars.[167][168]
When the Dzungars had first attacked, the weakened Lhazang sent word to the Qing for support and they quickly dispatched two armies to assist, the first Chinese armies ever to enter Tibet, but they arrived too late. In 1718 they were halted not far from Lhasa to be defeated and then ruthlessly annihilated by the triumphant Dzungars in the Battle of the Salween River.[169][170]
Enthronement in Lhasa
This humiliation only determined the Kangxi Emperor to expel the Dzungars from Tibet once and for all and he set about assembling and dispatching a much larger force to march on Lhasa, bringing the emperor's trump card the young Kelzang Gyatso with it. On the imperial army's stately passage from Kumbum to Lhasa with the boy being welcomed adoringly at every stage, Khoshut Mongols and Tibetans were happy (and well paid) to join and swell its ranks.[171] By the autumn of 1720 the marauding Dzungar Mongols had been vanquished from Tibet and the Qing imperial forces had entered Lhasa triumphantly with the 12-year-old, acting as patrons of the Dalai Lama, liberators of Tibet, allies of the Tibetan anti-Dzungar forces led by Kangchenas and Polhanas, and allies of the Khoshut Mongol princes. The delighted Tibetans enthroned him as the Seventh Dalai Lama at the Potala Palace.[172][173]
A new Tibetan government was established consisting of a Kashag or cabinet of Tibetan ministers headed by Kangchenas. Kelzang Gyatso, too young to participate in politics, studied Buddhism. He played a symbolic role in government, and, being profoundly revered by the Mongols, he exercised much influence with the Qing who now had now taken over Tibet's patronage and protection from them.[174]
Exile to Kham
Having vanquished the Dzungars, the Qing army withdrew leaving the Seventh Dalai Lama as a political figurehead and only a Khalkha Mongol as the Qing amban or representative and a garrison in Lhasa.[175][176] After the Kangxi Emperor died in 1722 and was succeeded by his son, the Yongzheng Emperor, these were also withdrawn, leaving the Tibetans to rule autonomously and showing the Qing were interested in an alliance, not conquest.[175][176] In 1723, however, after brutally quelling a major rebellion by zealous Tibetan patriots and disgruntled Khoshut Mongols from Amdo who attacked Xining, the Qing intervened again, splitting Tibet by putting Amdo and Kham under their own more direct control.[177] Continuing Qing interference in Central Tibetan politics and religion incited an anti-Qing faction to quarrel with the Qing-sympathising Tibetan nobles in power in Lhasa, led by Kanchenas who was supported by Polhanas. This led eventually to the murder of Kanchenas in 1727 and a civil war that was resolved in 1728 with the canny Polhanas, who had sent for Qing assistance, the victor. When the Qing forces did arrive they punished the losers and exiled the Seventh Dalai Lama to Kham, under the pretence of sending him to Beijing, because his father had assisted the defeated, anti-Qing faction. He studied and taught Buddhism there for the next seven years.[178]
Return to Lhasa
In 1735 he was allowed back to Lhasa to study and teach, but still under strict control, being mistrusted by the Qing, while Polhanas ruled Central Tibet under nominal Qing supervision. Meanwhile, the Qing had promoted the Fifth Panchen Lama to be a rival leader and reinstated the ambans and the Lhasa garrison. Polhanas died in 1747 and was succeeded by his son Gyurme Namgyal, the last dynastic ruler of Tibet, who was far less cooperative with the Qing. On the contrary, he built a Tibetan army and started conspiring with the Dzungars to rid Tibet of Qing influence.[179] In 1750, when the ambans realised this, they invited him and personally assassinated him and then, despite the Dalai Lama's attempts to calm the angered populace a vengeful Tibetan mob assassinated the ambans in turn, along with most of their escort.[180]
Restoration as Tibet's political leader
The Qing sent yet another force 'to restore order' but when it arrived the situation had already been stabilised under the leadership of the 7th Dalai Lama who was now seen to have demonstrated loyalty to the Qing. Just as Güshi Khan had done with the Fifth Dalai Lama, they therefore helped reconstitute the government with the Dalai Lama presiding over a Kashag of four Tibetans, reinvesting him with temporal power in addition to his already established spiritual leadership. This arrangement, with a Kashag under the Dalai Lama or his regent, outlasted the Qing dynasty which collapsed in 1912.[181] The ambans and their garrison were also reinstated to observe and to some extent supervise affairs, however, although their influence generally waned with the power of their empire which gradually declined after 1792 along with its influence over Tibet, a decline aided by a succession of corrupt or incompetent ambans.[182] Moreover, there was soon no reason for the Qing to fear the Dzungar; by the time the Seventh Dalai Lama died in 1757 at the age of 49, the entire Dzungar people had been practically exterminated through years of genocidal campaigns by Qing armies, and deadly smallpox epidemics, with the survivors being forcibly transported into China. Their emptied lands were then awarded to other peoples.[183]
According to Mullin, despite living through such violent times Kelzang Gyatso was perhaps 'the most spiritually learned and accomplished of any Dalai Lama', his written works comprising several hundred titles including 'some of Tibet's finest spiritual literary achievements'.[184] In addition, despite his apparent lack of zeal in politics, Kelzang Gyatso is credited with establishing in 1751 the reformed government of Tibet headed by the Dalai Lama, which continued over 200 years until the 1950s, and then in exile.[185] Construction of the Norbulingka, the 'Summer Palace' of the Dalai Lamas in Lhasa was also started during Kelzang Gyatso's reign.[186][187]
8th Dalai Lama
The Eighth Dalai Lama, Jamphel Gyatso was born in Tsang in 1758 and died aged 46 having taken little part in Tibetan politics, mostly leaving temporal matters to his regents and the ambans.[188] The 8th Dalai Lama was approved by the Emperor of China to be exempted from the lot-drawing ceremony of using Chinese Golden Urn.[189][190] Qianlong Emperor officially accept Gyiangbai as the 8th Dalai Lama when the 6th Panchen Erdeni came to congratulate the Emperor on his 70th birthday in 1780. The 8th Dalai Lama was granted a jade seal of authority and jade sheets of confirmation of authority by the Emperor of China.[191][192] The jade sheets of confirmation of authority says
You, the Dalai Lama, is the legal incarnation of Zhongkapa. You are granted the jade certificate of confirmation of authority and jade seal of authority, which you enshrine in the Potala monastery to guard the gate of Buddhism forever. All documents sent for the country's important ceremonies must be stamped with this seal, and all the other reports can be stamped with the original seal. Since you enjoy such honor, you have to make efforts to promote self-cultivation, study and propagate Buddhism, also help me in promoting Buddhism and goodness of the previous generation of the Dalai Lama for the people, and also for the long life of our country"[193][192]
The Dalai Lama, his later generations and the local government cherished both the jade seal of authority, and the jade sheets of authority. They were properly preserved as the root to their ruling power.[192]
Although the 8th Dalai Lama lived almost as long as the Seventh he was overshadowed by many contemporary lamas in terms of both religious and political accomplishment. According to Mullin, the 14th Dalai Lama has pointed to certain indications that Jamphel Gyatso might not have been the incarnation of the 7th Dalai Lama but of Jamyang Chojey, a disciple of Tsongkhapa and founder of Drepung monastery who was also reputed to be an incarnation of Avalokiteshvara. In any case, he mainly lived a quiet and unassuming life as a devoted and studious monk, uninvolved in the kind of dramas that had surrounded his predecessors.[194]
Nevertheless, Jamphel Gyatso was also said to possess all the signs of being the true incarnation of the Seventh. This was also claimed to have been confirmed by many portents clear to the Tibetans and so, in 1762, at the age of 5, he was duly enthroned as the Eighth Dalai Lama at the Potala Palace.[195] At the age of 23 he was persuaded to assume the throne as ruler of Tibet with a Regent to assist him and after three years of this, when the Regent went to Beijing as ambassador in 1784, he continued to rule solo for a further four years. Feeling unsuited to worldly affairs, however, and unhappy in this role, he then retired from public office to concentrate on religious activities for his remaining 16 years until his death in 1804.[196] He is also credited with the construction of the Norbulingka 'Summer Palace' started by his predecessor in Lhasa and with ordaining some ten thousand monks in his efforts to foster monasticism.[197]
9th to 12th Dalai Lamas
Hugh Richardson's summary of the period covering the four short-lived, 19th-century Dalai Lamas:
After him [the 8th Dalai Lama, Jamphel Gyatso], the 9th and 10th Dalai Lamas died before attaining their majority: one of them is credibly stated to have been murdered and strong suspicion attaches to the other. The 11th and 12th were each enthroned but died soon after being invested with power. For 113 years, therefore, supreme authority in Tibet was in the hands of a Lama Regent, except for about two years when a lay noble held office and for short periods of nominal rule by the 11th and 12th Dalai Lamas.[a]
It has sometimes been suggested that this state of affairs was brought about by the Ambans—the Imperial Residents in Tibet—because it would be easier to control the Tibet through a Regent than when a Dalai Lama, with his absolute power, was at the head of the government. That is not true. The regular ebb and flow of events followed its set course. The Imperial Residents in Tibet, after the first flush of zeal in 1750, grew less and less interested and efficient. Tibet was, to them, exile from the urbanity and culture of Peking; and so far from dominating the Regents, the Ambans allowed themselves to be dominated. It was the ambition and greed for power of Tibetans that led to five successive Dalai Lamas being subjected to continuous tutelage. (Richardson 1984, pp. 59–60)
Thubten Jigme Norbu, the elder brother of the 14th Dalai Lama, described these unfortunate events as follows, although there are few, if any, indications that any of the four were said to be 'Chinese-appointed imposters':
It is perhaps more than a coincidence that between the seventh and the thirteenth holders of that office, only one reached his majority. The eighth, Gyampal Gyatso, died when he was in his thirties, Lungtog Gyatso when he was eleven, Tsultrim Gyatso at eighteen, Khadrup Gyatso when he was eighteen also, and Krinla Gyatso at about the same age. The circumstances are such that it is very likely that some, if not all, were poisoned, either by loyal Tibetans for being Chinese-appointed impostors, or by the Chinese for not being properly manageable. Many Tibetans think that this was done at the time when the young [Dalai Lama] made his ritual visit to the Lake Lhamtso. ... Each of the four [Dalai Lamas] to die young expired shortly after his visit to the lake. Many said it was because they were not the true reincarnations, but imposters imposed by the Chinese. Others tell stories of how the cooks of the retinue, which in those days included many Chinese, were bribed to put poison in the [Dalai Lama's] food. The 13th [Dalai Lama] did not visit Lhamtso until he was 25 years old. He was adequately prepared by spiritual exercise and he also had faithful cooks. The Chinese were disappointed when he did not die like his predecessors, and he was to live long enough to give them much more cause for regret.(Norbu & Turnbull 1968)[b]
According to Mullin, on the other hand, it is improbable that the Manchus would have murdered any of these four for being 'unmanageable' since it would have been in their best interests to have strong Dalai Lamas ruling in Lhasa, he argues, agreeing with Richardson that it was rather "the ambition and greed for power of Tibetans" that might have caused the Lamas' early deaths.[c] Further, if Tibetan nobles murdered any of them, which is quite possible, it would more likely to have been in order to protect or enhance their personal family interests rather than out of suspicion that the Dalai Lamas were seen as Chinese-appointed imposters as suggested by Norbu. They could have also easily died from illnesses, possibly contracted from diseases to which they had no immunity, carried to Lhasa by the multitudes of pilgrims visiting him from nearby countries for personal blessings. Finally, from the Buddhist point of view, Mullin says, "Simply stated, these four Dalai Lamas died young because the world did not have enough good karma to deserve their presence".[198]
Tibetan historian K. Dhondup, however, in his history The Water-Bird and Other Years, based on the Tibetan minister Surkhang Sawang Chenmo's historical manuscripts,[199] disagrees with Mullin's opinion that having strong Dalai Lamas in power in Tibet would have been in China's best interests. He notes that many historians are compelled to suspect Manchu foul play in these serial early deaths because the Ambans had such latitude to interfere; the Manchu, he says, "to perpetuate their domination over Tibetan affairs, did not desire a Dalai Lama who will ascend the throne and become a strong and capable ruler over his own country and people". The life and deeds of the 13th Dalai Lama [in successfully upholding de facto Tibetan independence from China from 1912 to 1950] serve as the living proof of this argument, he points out.[200] This account also corresponds with TJ Norbu's observations above.
Finally, while acknowledging the possibility, the 14th Dalai Lama himself doubts they were poisoned. He ascribes the probable cause of these early deaths to negligence, foolishness and lack of proper medical knowledge and attention. "Even today" he is quoted as saying, "when people get sick, some [Tibetans] will say: 'Just do your prayers, you don't need medical treatment.'"[201]
9th Dalai Lama
Born in Kham in 1805/6 amidst the usual miraculous signs the Ninth Dalai Lama, Lungtok Gyatso was appointed by the 7th Panchen Lama's search team at the age of two and enthroned in the Potala in 1808 at an impressive ceremony attended by representatives from China, Mongolia, Nepal and Bhutan.[202][203] Tibetan historian Nyima Gyaincain and Wang Jiawei point out that the 9th Dalai Lama was allowed to use the seal of authority given to the late 8th Dalai Lama by the Emperor of China[204]
His second Regent Demo Tulku was the biographer of the 8th and 9th Dalai Lamas and though the 9th died at the age of 9 his biography is as lengthy as those of many of the early Dalai Lamas.[205] In 1793 under Manchu pressure Tibet had closed its borders to foreigners,[206][207] but in 1811 a British Sinologist, Thomas Manning became the first Englishman to visit Lhasa. Considered to be 'the first Chinese scholar in Europe'[208] he stayed five months and gave enthusiastic accounts in his journal of his regular meetings with the Ninth Dalai Lama whom he found fascinating: “beautiful, elegant, refined, intelligent, and entirely self-possessed, even at the age of six.”[209] Three years later in March 1815 the young Lungtok Gyatso caught a severe cold and, leaving the Potala Palace to preside over the New Year Monlam Prayer Festival he contracted pneumonia from which he soon died.[210][211]
10th Dalai Lama
Like the Seventh Dalai Lama, the Tenth, Tsultrim Gyatso, was born in Lithang, Kham, where the Third Dalai Lama had built a monastery. It was 1816 and Regent Demo Tulku and the Seventh Panchen Lama followed indications from Nechung, the 'state oracle' which led them to appoint him at the age of two. He passed all the tests and was brought to Lhasa but official recognition was delayed until 1822 when he was enthroned and ordained by the Seventh Panchen Lama. There are conflicting reports about whether the Chinese 'Golden Urn' was utilised by drawing lots to choose him.[212] The 10th Dalai Lama mentioned in his biography that he was allowed to use the golden seal of authority based on the convention set up by the late Dalai Lama. At the investiture, decree of the Emperor of China was issued and read out.[213] After 15 years of intensive studies and failing health he died, in 1837, at the age of 20 or 21.[214][215] He identified with ordinary people rather than the court officials and often sat on his verandah in the sunshine with the office clerks. Intending to empower the common people he planned to institute political and economic reforms to share the nation's wealth more equitably. Over this period his health had deteriorated, the implication being that he may have suffered from slow poisoning by Tibetan aristocrats whose interests these reforms were threatening.[216] He was also dissatisfied with his Regent and the Kashag and scolded them for not alleviating the condition of the common people, who had suffered much in small ongoing regional civil wars waged in Kokonor between Mongols, local Tibetans and the government over territory, and in Kham to extract unpaid taxes from rebellious Tibetan communities.[212][217]
11th Dalai Lama
Born in Gathar, Kham in 1838 and soon discovered by the official search committee with the help of Nechung Oracle, the Eleventh Dalai Lama was brought to Lhasa in 1841 and recognised, enthroned and named Khedrup Gyatso by the Panchen Lama in 1842, who also ordained him in 1846. After that he was immersed in religious studies under the Panchen Lama, amongst other great masters. Meanwhile, there were court intrigues and ongoing power struggles taking place between the various Lhasa factions, the Regent, the Kashag, the powerful nobles and the abbots and monks of the three great monasteries. The Tsemonling Regent[218] became mistrusted and was forcibly deposed, there were machinations, plots, beatings and kidnappings of ministers and so forth, resulting at last in the Panchen Lama being appointed as interim Regent to keep the peace. Eventually the Third Reting Rinpoche was made Regent, and in 1855, Khedrup Gyatso, appearing to be an extremely promising prospect, was requested to take the reins of power at the age of 17. He was enthroned as ruler of Tibet in 1855[219][220] following Xianfeng Emperor's order.[221] He died after just 11 months, no reason for his sudden and premature death being given in these accounts, Shakabpa and Mullin's histories both being based on untranslated Tibetan chronicles. The respected Reting Rinpoche was recalled once again to act as Regent and requested to lead the search for the next incarnation, the twelfth.[219][220]
12th Dalai Lama
In 1856 a child was born in south central Tibet amidst all the usual extraordinary signs. He came to the notice of the search team, was investigated, passed the traditional tests and was recognised as the 12th Dalai Lama in 1858. The use of the Chinese Golden Urn at the insistence of the Regent, who was later accused of being a Chinese lackey, confirmed this choice to the satisfaction of all. Renamed Trinley Gyatso and enthroned in 1860 the boy underwent 13 years of intensive tutelage and training before stepping up to rule Tibet at the age of 17.[222]
His minority seems a time of even deeper Lhasan political intrigue and power struggles than his predecessor's. By 1862 this led to a coup by Wangchuk Shetra, a minister whom the Regent had banished for conspiring against him. Shetra contrived to return, deposed the Regent, who fled to China, and seized power, appointing himself 'Desi' or Prime Minister.[222] He then ruled with "absolute power" for three years,[223] quelling a major rebellion in northern Kham in 1863 and re-establishing Tibetan control over significant Qing-held territory there.[224] Shetra died in 1864 and the Kashag re-assumed power. The retired 76th Ganden Tripa, Khyenrab Wangchuk, was appointed as 'Regent' but his role was limited to supervising and mentoring Trinley Gyatso.[222][223]
In 1868 Shetra's coup organiser, a semi-literate Ganden monk named Palden Dondrup, seized power by another coup and ruled as a cruel despot for three years, putting opponents to death by having them 'sewn into fresh animal skins and thrown in the river'.[223] In 1871, at the request of officials outraged after Dondrup had done just that with one minister and imprisoned several others, he in turn was ousted and committed suicide after a counter-coup coordinated by the supposedly powerless 'Regent' Khyenrab Wangchuk.[223] As a result of this action this venerable old Regent, who died the next year, is fondly remembered by Tibetans as saviour of the Dalai Lama and the nation. The Kashag and the Tsongdu or National Assembly were re-instated, and, presided over by a Dalai Lama or his Regent, ruled without further interruption until 1959.[222]
According to Smith, however, during Trinley Gyatso's minority, the Regent was deposed in 1862 for abuse of authority and closeness with China, by an alliance of monks and officials called Gandre Drungche (Ganden and Drepung Monks Assembly); this body then ruled Tibet for ten years until dissolved, when a National Assembly of monks and officials called the Tsongdu was created and took over. Smith makes no mention of Shetra or Dondrup acting as usurpers and despots in this period.[224]
In any case, Trinley Gyatso died within three years of assuming power. In 1873, at the age of 20 "he suddenly became ill and passed away".[222] On the cause of his early death, accounts diverge. Mullin relates an interesting theory, based on cited Tibetan sources: out of concern for the monastic tradition, Trinley Gyatso chose to die and reincarnate as the 13th Dalai Lama, rather than taking the option of marrying a woman called Rigma Tsomo from Kokonor and leaving an heir to "oversee Tibet's future".[225] Shakabpa on the other hand, without citing sources, notes that Trinley Gyatso was influenced and manipulated by two close acquaintances who were subsequently accused of having a hand in his fatal illness and imprisoned, tortured and exiled as a result.[226]
13th Dalai Lama
Throne awaiting Dalai Lama's return. Summer residence of 14th Dalai Lama, Nechung, Tibet.
The 13th Dalai Lama assumed ruling power from the monasteries, which previously had great influence on the Regent, in 1895. Due to his two periods of exile in 1904–1909 to escape the British invasion of 1904, and from 1910 to 1912 to escape a Chinese invasion, he became well aware of the complexities of international politics and was the first Dalai Lama to become aware of the importance of foreign relations. After his return from exile in India and Sikkim during January 1913, he assumed control of foreign relations and dealt directly with the Maharaja, with the British Political officer in Sikkim and with the king of Nepal – rather than letting the Kashag or parliament do it. (Sheel 1989, pp. 24, 29)
The Thirteenth issued a Declaration of Independence for his kingdom in Ü-Tsang from China during the summer of 1912 and standardised a Tibetan flag, though no other sovereign state recognized Tibetan independence. (Sheel 1989, p. 20) He expelled the ambans and all Chinese civilians in the country and instituted many measures to modernise Tibet. These included provisions to curb excessive demands on peasants for provisions by the monasteries and tax evasion by the nobles, setting up an independent police force, the abolition of the death penalty, extension of secular education, and the provision of electricity throughout the city of Lhasa in the 1920s. (Norbu & Turnbull 1968, pp. 317–318) He died in 1933.
14th Dalai Lama
The 14th Dalai Lama was born on 6 July 1935 on a straw mat in a cowshed to a farmer's family in a remote part of Tibet.[227] According to most Western journalistic sources[228][229] he was born into a humble family of farmers as one of 16 children.[230][231][232] The 14th Dalai Lama had become the joint most popular world leader by 2013, (tied with Barack Obama), according to a poll conducted by Harris Interactive of New York, which sampled public opinion in the USA and six major European countries.[233]
The 14th Dalai Lama was not formally enthroned until 17 November 1950, during the Battle of Chamdo with the People's Republic of China. In 1951, the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government were pressured into accepting the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet by which it became formally incorporated into the People's Republic of China.[234] Fearing for his life in the wake of a revolt in Tibet in 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India, from where he led a government in exile.[235][236]
With the aim of launching guerrilla operations against the Chinese, the Central Intelligence Agency funded the Dalai Lama's administration with US$1.7 million a year in the 1960s.[237] In 2001 the 14th Dalai Lama ceded his partial power over the government to an elected parliament of selected Tibetan exiles. His original goal was full independence for Tibet, but by the late 1980s he was seeking high-level autonomy instead.[238] He continued to seek greater autonomy from China, but Dolma Gyari, deputy speaker of the parliament-in-exile, stated: "If the middle path fails in the short term, we will be forced to opt for complete independence or self-determination as per the UN charter".[239]
In 2014 and 2016, he stated that Tibet wants to be part of China but China should let Tibet preserve its culture and script.[240][241]
In 2018, he stated that "Europe belongs to the Europeans" and that Europe has a moral obligation to aid refugees whose lives are in peril. Further he stated that Europe should receive, help and educate refugees but ultimately they should return to develop their home countries.[242]
In March 2019, the Dalai Lama spoke out about his successor, saying that after his death he is likely to be reincarnated in India. He also warned that any Chinese interference in succession should not be considered valid.[243]
Residences
The 1st Dalai Lama was based at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, which he founded, the Second to the Fifth Dalai Lamas were mainly based at Drepung Monastery outside Lhasa. In 1645, after the unification of Tibet, the Fifth moved to the ruins of a royal fortress or residence on top of Marpori ('Red Mountain') in Lhasa and decided to build a palace on the same site. This ruined palace, called Tritse Marpo, was originally built around 636 AD by the founder of the Tibetan Empire, Songtsen Gampo for his Nepalese wife.[244] Amongst the ruins there was just a small temple left where Tsongkhapa had given a teaching when he arrived in Lhasa in the 1380s. The Fifth Dalai Lama began construction of the Potala Palace on this site in 1645,[245] carefully incorporating what was left of his predecessor's palace into its structure.[140] From then on and until today, unless on tour or in exile the Dalai Lamas have always spent their winters at the Potala Palace and their summers at the Norbulingka palace and park. Both palaces are in Lhasa and approximately 3 km apart.
Following the failed 1959 Tibetan uprising, the 14th Dalai Lama sought refuge in India. Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru allowed in the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government officials. The Dalai Lama has since lived in exile in McLeod Ganj, in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh in northern India, where the Central Tibetan Administration is also established. His residence on the Temple Road in McLeod Ganj is called the Dalai Lama Temple and is visited by people from across the globe. Tibetan refugees have constructed and opened many schools and Buddhist temples in Dharamshala.[246]
Potala Palace
Norbulingka
Searching for the reincarnation
The search for the 14th Dalai Lama took the High Lamas to Taktser in Amdo
Palden Lhamo, the female guardian spirit of the sacred lake, Lhamo La-tso, who promised Gendun Drup the 1st Dalai Lama in one of his visions that "she would protect the 'reincarnation' lineage of the Dalai Lamas"
By the Himalayan tradition, phowa is the discipline that is believed to transfer the mindstream to the intended body. Upon the death of the Dalai Lama and consultation with the Nechung Oracle, a search for the Lama's yangsi, or reincarnation, is conducted. Traditionally, it has been the responsibility of the High Lamas of the Gelugpa tradition and the Tibetan government to find a person accepted as his reincarnation. The process can take around two or three years to identify the Dalai Lama, and for the 14th, Tenzin Gyatso, it was four years before he was found. Historically, the search for the Dalai Lama has usually been limited to Tibet, though the third tulku was born in Mongolia. Tenzin Gyatso, however, has stated that he will not be reborn in the People's Republic of China, though he has also suggested he may not be reborn at all, suggesting the function of the Dalai Lama may be outdated.[247] The government of the People's Republic of China has stated its intention to be the ultimate authority on the selection of the next Dalai Lama.[248]
The High Lamas used several ways in which they can increase the chances of finding a person they claim to be the reincarnation. High Lamas often visit Lhamo La-tso, a lake in central Tibet, and watch for a sign from the lake itself. This may be either a claimed 'vision' or some 'indication' of the direction in which to search, and this was how Tenzin Gyatso was determined to be the next Dalai Lama. It is said that Palden Lhamo, the female guardian spirit of the sacred lake Lhamo La-tso promised Gendun Drup, the 1st Dalai Lama, in one of his visions "that she would protect the reincarnation lineage of the Dalai Lamas."[249] Ever since the time of Gendun Gyatso, the 2nd Dalai Lama, who formalised the system, the Regents and other monks have gone to the lake to seek guidance on choosing the next reincarnation through visions while meditating there.[250]
The particular form of Palden Lhamo at Lhamo La-tso is Gyelmo Maksorma, "The Victorious One who Turns Back Enemies". The lake is sometimes referred to as "Pelden Lhamo Kalideva", which has been taken as a reason to claim that Palden Lhamo is an emanation of the goddess Kali, the shakti of the Hindu God Shiva.[251]
Lhamo Latso ... [is] a brilliant azure jewel set in a ring of grey mountains. The elevation and the surrounding peaks combine to give it a highly changeable climate, and the continuous passage of cloud and wind creates a constantly moving pattern on the surface of the waters. On that surface visions appear to those who seek them in the right frame of mind.[252]
It was here that in 1935, the Regent Reting Rinpoche claimed to have received a clear vision of three Tibetan letters and of a monastery with a jade-green and gold roof, and a house with turquoise roof tiles, which led to the indication of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama.[35][253][254]
High Lamas may also claim to have a vision by a dream or if the Dalai Lama was cremated, they will often monitor the direction of the smoke as an 'indication' of the direction of the expected rebirth.[247]
Once the High Lamas have found the home and the boy they believe to be the reincarnation, the boy undergoes tests to ceremoniously legitimize the rebirth. They present a number of artifacts, only some of which belonged to the previous Dalai Lama, and if the boy chooses the items which belonged to the previous Dalai Lama, this is seen as a sign, in conjunction with all of the other claimed indications, that the boy is the reincarnation.[255]
If there is only one boy found, the High Lamas will invite Living Buddhas of the three great monasteries, together with secular clergy and monk officials, to 'confirm their findings' and then report to the Central Government through the Minister of Tibet. Later, a group consisting of the three major servants of Dalai Lama, eminent officials,[who?] and troops[which?] will collect the boy and his family and travel to Lhasa, where the boy would be taken, usually to Drepung Monastery, to study the Buddhist sutra in preparation for assuming the role of spiritual leader of Tibet.[247]
If there are several possible claimed reincarnations, however, regents, eminent officials, monks at the Jokhang in Lhasa, and the Minister to Tibet have historically decided on the individual by putting the boys' names inside an urn and drawing one lot in public if it was too difficult to judge the reincarnation initially.[256]
List of Dalai Lamas
Main article: List of Dalai Lamas
This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.
There have been 14 recognised incarnations of the Dalai Lama:
Name Picture Lifespan Recognised Enthronement Tibetan/Wylie Tibetan pinyin/Chinese Alternative spellings
1 Gendun Drup 1st Dalai Lama.jpg 1391–1474 – N/A[257] དགེ་འདུན་འགྲུབ་
dge 'dun 'grub Gêdün Chub
根敦朱巴 Gedun Drub
Gedün Drup
2 Gendun Gyatso Second Dalai Lama.jpg 1475–1542 1483 1487 དགེ་འདུན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
dge 'dun rgya mtsho Gêdün Gyaco
根敦嘉措 Gedün Gyatso
Gendün Gyatso
3 Sonam Gyatso Цыбиков Далай-лама III.png 1543–1588 1546 1578 བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
bsod nams rgya mtsho Soinam Gyaco
索南嘉措 Sönam Gyatso
4 Yonten Gyatso 4DalaiLama.jpg 1589–1617 1601 1603 ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
yon tan rgya mtsho Yoindain Gyaco
雲丹嘉措 Yontan Gyatso, Yönden Gyatso
5 Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso 5th Dalai Lama.jpg 1617–1682 1618 1622 བློ་བཟང་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
blo bzang rgya mtsho Lobsang Gyaco
羅桑嘉措 Lobzang Gyatso
Lopsang Gyatso
6 Tsangyang Gyatso VI Dalai Lama.JPG 1683–1706 1688 1697 ཚངས་དབྱངས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
tshang dbyangs rgya mtsho Cangyang Gyaco
倉央嘉措 Tsañyang Gyatso
7 Kelzang Gyatso 7DalaiLama.jpg 1707–1757 1712 1720 བསྐལ་བཟང་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
bskal bzang rgya mtsho Gaisang Gyaco
格桑嘉措 Kelsang Gyatso
Kalsang Gyatso
8 Jamphel Gyatso Jamphel Gyatso, 8th Dalai Lama - AMNH - DSC06244.JPG 1758–1804 1760 1762 བྱམས་སྤེལ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
byams spel rgya mtsho Qambê Gyaco
強白嘉措 Jampel Gyatso
Jampal Gyatso
9 Lungtok Gyatso Lungtok Gyatso.jpg 1805–1815 1807 1808 ལུང་རྟོགས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
lung rtogs rgya mtsho Lungdog Gyaco
隆朵嘉措 Lungtog Gyatso
10 Tsultrim Gyatso 1816–1837 1822 1822 ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
tshul khrim rgya mtsho Cüchim Gyaco
楚臣嘉措 Tshültrim Gyatso
11 Khendrup Gyatso 1838–1856 1841 1842 མཁས་གྲུབ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
mkhas grub rgya mtsho Kaichub Gyaco
凱珠嘉措 Kedrub Gyatso
12 Trinley Gyatso 1857–1875 1858 1860 འཕྲིན་ལས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
'phrin las rgya mtsho Chinlai Gyaco
成烈嘉措 Trinle Gyatso
13 Thubten Gyatso 13th Dalai Lama Thubten Gyatso.jpg 1876–1933 1878 1879 ཐུབ་བསྟན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
thub bstan rgya mtsho Tubdain Gyaco
土登嘉措 Thubtan Gyatso
Thupten Gyatso
14 Tenzin Gyatso Dalai Lama at WhiteHouse (cropped).jpg born 1935 1939[258] 1940[258]
(currently in exile) བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་
bstan 'dzin rgya mtsho Dainzin Gyaco
丹增嘉措 Tenzin Gyatso
There has also been one non-recognised Dalai Lama, Ngawang Yeshe Gyatso, declared 28 June 1707, when he was 25 years old, by Lha-bzang Khan as the "true" 6th Dalai Lama – however, he was never accepted as such by the majority of the population.[170][259][260]
Future of the position
Main article: 15th Dalai Lama
The main teaching room of the Dalai Lama in Dharamshala, India
14th Dalai Lama
In the mid-1970s, Tenzin Gyatso told a Polish newspaper that he thought he would be the last Dalai Lama. In a later interview published in the English language press he stated, "The Dalai Lama office was an institution created to benefit others. It is possible that it will soon have outlived its usefulness."[261] These statements caused a furore amongst Tibetans in India. Many could not believe that such an option could even be considered. It was further felt that it was not the Dalai Lama's decision to reincarnate. Rather, they felt that since the Dalai Lama is a national institution it was up to the people of Tibet to decide whether the Dalai Lama should reincarnate.[262]
The government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) has claimed the power to approve the naming of "high" reincarnations in Tibet, based on a precedent set by the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty.[263] The Qianlong Emperor instituted a system of selecting the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama by a lottery that used a Golden Urn with names wrapped in clumps of barley. This method was used a few times for both positions during the 19th century, but eventually fell into disuse.[264][265] In 1995, the Dalai Lama chose to proceed with the selection of the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama without the use of the Golden Urn, while the Chinese government insisted that it must be used.[citation needed] This has led to two rival Panchen Lamas: Gyaincain Norbu as chosen by the Chinese government's process, and Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as chosen by the Dalai Lama.
In September 2007, the Chinese government said all high monks must be approved by the government, which would include the selection of the 15th Dalai Lama after the death of Tenzin Gyatso.[266][267] Since by tradition, the Panchen Lama must approve the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, that is another possible method of control. Consequently, the Dalai Lama has alluded to the possibility of a referendum to determine the 15th Dalai Lama.[267]
In response to this scenario, Tashi Wangdi, the representative of the 14th Dalai Lama, replied that the Chinese government's selection would be meaningless. "You can't impose an Imam, an Archbishop, saints, any religion...you can't politically impose these things on people", said Wangdi. "It has to be a decision of the followers of that tradition. The Chinese can use their political power: force. Again, it's meaningless. Like their Panchen Lama. And they can't keep their Panchen Lama in Tibet. They tried to bring him to his monastery many times but people would not see him. How can you have a religious leader like that?"[268]
The 14th Dalai Lama said as early as 1969 that it was for the Tibetans to decide whether the institution of the Dalai Lama "should continue or not".[269] He has given reference to a possible vote occurring in the future for all Tibetan Buddhists to decide whether they wish to recognize his rebirth.[270] In response to the possibility that the PRC might attempt to choose his successor, the Dalai Lama said he would not be reborn in a country controlled by the People's Republic of China or any other country which is not free.[247][271] According to Robert D. Kaplan, this could mean that "the next Dalai Lama might come from the Tibetan cultural belt that stretches across northern India, Nepal, and Bhutan, presumably making him even more pro-Indian and anti-Chinese".[272]
The 14th Dalai Lama supported the possibility that his next incarnation could be a woman.[273] As an "engaged Buddhist" the Dalai Lama has an appeal straddling cultures and political systems making him one of the most recognized and respected moral voices today.[274] "Despite the complex historical, religious and political factors surrounding the selection of incarnate masters in the exiled Tibetan tradition, the Dalai Lama is open to change", author Michaela Haas writes.[275] "Why not? What's the big deal?"[276]
See also