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Tibetan diaspora

Introduction:-

Tibetan diaspora refers to the community who have left their homeland because of political

insecurity in their own country ‘Tibet’ under the rule of Chinese government and became as

refugees in India and other countries such as Bhutan, Nepal etc. This process of emigration

happened in 1959 when Chinese military had entered most parts of Tibet starting from Kham

(province) of Tibet and Tibetan predicted that H.H. Dalai lama’s life was in danger under

Chinese Government. In 1959 H.H. Dalai Lama and ten thousand of his Tibetan people have

moved out of Tibet and settled in India. In 80s many young Tibetans were sent to India by their

parents to learn Tibetan culture and languages with modern understanding of it. Tibetans who

have come to India are settled their residents in the host country without the citizenship. “Nearly

all accounts of Tibetans in exile acknowledge the remarkable extent to which they have been

able to maintain their culture against all odds. They were premised on the idea that exile and

identity was only worth studying insofar as it contained traces of “how things were in the past”,

and proof of how well that past has been preserved (basu). 'The differences between Tibetan

civilization and Chinese civilization are vast. The Tibetan and Chinese languages are mutually

incomprehensible”explains the Tibetan exile writer Norbu(Tibet's independent). Moreover, the

religion differs considerably. Both Buddhist religions have different roots, and “Tibetan and

Chinese canons of Buddhist scriptures vary'.(Dool)

History behind the Emigration:-

The major causes of emigration was that Chinese have reached all parts of Tibet between 1949

to 1959 and the condition in Tibet was worsening in 1959.There was the rumour spreading all

over tsang (province) that H.H. Dalai Lama’s life is in danger. On 10

of March 1959 was the

uprising day for the Tibetans in Tibet raising voice against the Chinese government in Tibet.

H.H Dalai lama and few of his security had started moving towards India without the knowledge

of the Tibetan people. With the realization of Dalai Lama’s exile in India people lost their hope

and moved to India that the situation could be better in India. H.H Dalai Lama had chosen India

as the second homeland was because i) India is considered as land of god as the Buddhism was

born here so that Tibetans can preserve their culture and religion. ii) Tibet hardly had relation

with other countries except with India, Bhutan, and Nepal. “Although Nehru opened India's

doors to the Tibetans, like Nepal and Bhutan, he could not condone the settlement of tens of

thousands of Tibetans in the ecologically fragile and politically sensitive Himalayan

borderlands. So the Tibetan refugees were herded into reception camps on the Indian plains,

particularly in Bengal, where they died from tropical disease by the thousands. After months or

years in the reception camps the refugees, according to their Tibetan communal origin, were

allocated land in Central and Southern India”.

Situations that were gone through by first generation:-

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H.H. Dalai Lama had reached India in 1959 through by walking and riding a horse also. The

Tibetans who followed the Dalai Lama came to India through walking. The journey that the first

generation has had was more than two months by crossing hills and hills. Most of them had

crossed Nepal as the means for traveling. Before crossing the hills Tibetans have prayed to the

god that they would return back to Tibet before they die. Many people died on the way because

of climate change and many of them suffered with different disease such as Tuberculosis,

malaria, typhoid etc. People were not aware of such disease and they couldn’t cure it. Many

people died in snow and some of them have lost their legs because of snow. Some also died

because of famine as they didn’t eat anything for months and they couldn’t afford to carry along

the foods. Many of them had to sell their important resource that they have been carrying

throughout the journey to buy food and to be safe. The first generation Tibetan reached India in

1960s to 70s and they were given a job of road construction in northern part of India.They had

to earn and they had to look after their family members, old people, and sick people at their

homes. The adjustment that they had made was very difficult. Tibetans couldn’t understand the

Indian languages, the food were very much different from what they eat in the fatherland, the

climate was very hot compare to the highest plateau of world (Tibet) and they had to work very

hard whereas in Tibet there was no hard labor work. There was cultural shock after learning the

sati system and dowry system etc in India. The situation, living and everything was new to the

Tibetans. The nature of the work that they did then was road construction. After working under

road construction for 15 long years they were sent to different settlement in south India and

different parts of India.

Settling in India:

Tibetan government in-exile was built in Dharamsala (H.P) and settlements were made by

Indian Government in 60s. People were sent to different parts of the India to settle down in a

group. The request of H.H. Dalai lama to Nehru was to give separate land where group of

Tibetans can settle together which would be easier for Tibetan to preserve their culture and

nationality in bonded."The proposed settlements were a kind of compromise because their

envisioned size of three to four thousand was large enough to sustain Tibetan language and other

institutions easily".(Basu)

People were given land, built house and ration cards. People were given a RC (Registration

certificate) stating the refugee status in India by Indian government and green book are given by

Tibetan government in-exile for the proof of pure Tibetan. Those Tibetan who came to India in

90s are taken care by the Tibetan government in-exile. When people are settling down many

monasteries were also built in all settlements of Tibetans in India. Schools started building in

1960s in north India and spread all over India. Many organizations such as RTYC (regional

Tibetan youth congress), RWA (regional Tibetan women Association), SFT (student for free

Tibet), choekur sum ling and many more were formed in 80s and 90s are aimed to build

nationalism within the young Tibetans by learning the fact and the status of Tibet in today’s

world. These NGOs have taken many steps such as protest, raising voice against Chinese

government. With the help of Indian government mant Tibetan got to join Indian army and

sweater busiiness as their income of livelihood.

Diaspora’s identity:-

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Tibetan diaspora Introduction:- Tibetan diaspora refers to the community who have left their homeland because of political insecurity in their own country 'Tibet' under the rule of Chinese government and became as refugees in India and other countries such as Bhutan, Nepal etc. This process of emigration happened in 1959 when Chinese military had entered most parts of Tibet starting from Kham (province) of Tibet and Tibetan predicted that H.H. Dalai lama's life was in danger under Chinese Government. In 1959 H.H. Dalai Lama and ten thousand of his Tibetan people have moved out of Tibet and settled in India. In 80s many young Tibetans were sent to India by their parents to learn Tibetan culture and languages with modern understanding of it. Tibetans who have come to India are settled their residents in the host country without the citizenship. "Nearly all accounts of Tibetans in exile acknowledge the remarkable extent to which they have been able to maintain their culture against all odds. They were premised on the idea that exile and identity was only worth studying insofar as it contained traces of "how things were in the past", and proof of how well that past has been preserved (basu). 'The differences between Tibetan civilization and Chinese civilization are vast. The Tibetan and Chinese languages are mutually incomprehensible"explains the Tibetan exile writer Norbu(Tibet's independent). Moreover, the religion differs considerably. Both Buddhist religions have different ro ...
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