When I decided to go in for the book
‘VANISHING SHANGRI LA – History of Tibet and Dalai Lamas in 20th
Century’ by Dr. K.N.Raghavan, I had one primary question in my mind. “What did the Civil Servant turned Doctor cum
Umpire got to do with a fictitious land, its history and the Lamas?”. This question is answered by the author
himself in the ‘Acknowledgements’, wherein he admits to have been goaded into
the work by the publisher. That a publisher
goes after a writer and with a specific topic and gets the book printed in the
style of a ‘Reference Book’, speaks volumes about the credibility of the author
as a writer.
The book opens with a brief and
poignant foreword from The Dalai Lama, one of the most respected world leaders
of this century.
Then the author startles us with a
statement that ‘the exact geographical boundaries of Tibet have remained, till
date, a matter that has eluded unanimity’.
But what lies thereafter, is far from
a breezy and dreamy ‘Shangria la’, where age does not catch up, where worries
are alien to the mind and it is bliss in all its completeness. On the contrary, the author throws us into a hotbed
of perennial intrigues, clashes, conspiracies and manipulations to gain power
and authority – in spite of all the peripheral respects for spiritualism.
The book shows the evolution of a
political society from a basically agrarian society which is more at peace with
nature and is happy in its own feudalistic ways. A society where the land owners also own the
workers on the land and the workers or serfs having a say in what they would
cultivate, serfdom passed on by lineage, etc are novel feudalistic
concepts. This strange relationship
between the landowners and the peasants sans the brutality and cruelty on the
serfs as in other parts of the world, is cited as one of the reasons for the
Tibetans not being enamoured by Chinese methods of land reforms.
However, the book also exposes the
community as a political novice. That
basic trait is often seen during the entire recordings in the book, which
perhaps is the singular reason for the entire community not being able to throw
off the foreign rule and get themselves freed.
The initial intervention of China, as
was in the case of many other foreign invasions stemmed from a local
crisis. Those who turned up to defend
the Tibetans from the attack by Dzungars, themselves chose to take over the
reins and thereafter the clash between the Chinese and Tibetans becomes a
perennial crisis. The ignition for later
Chinese hardening their hold comes in the form of resistance by a small weapon
wielding community called Khamphas to give away their rights in the face of laws
imposed by the Chinese.
The book chronicles the events that
have taken place in the last century. It
becomes a reference for those who would like to have a bird’s eye view of Tibet
as a whole. But it contains within its
fold a potential for elasticity to include much more details in the editions to
come, perhaps. The world would be
curious to know also of the religion called Bon, from which they switched over
to Buddhism.
There are occasions in the book which
highlight the difference in perspectives because of the cultural divides. For example, in 1904, ‘when British troops
reached Lhasa, Tibetans clapped and cheered which was their traditional way of
repelling evil spirits, while the conquering forces thought that they were
being welcomed enthusiastically and took off their hats as a gesture of
thanks!!’.
There are also recordings which show
the not-so-passive Dalailama (the 13th) during whose regime, monks
are said to have been flogged, properties confiscated and driven out on white
oxen. And the affected monks
demonstrated in a strange fashion. They
marched to the retreat of the Dalai Lama, overwhelmed his guards at the gate,
took away their weapons and reaching the precincts of the quarters of the Dalai
Lama, first prostrated there, raised slogans and then defiled the area by
urinating and defecating there.
The seat of spiritual power and
political power being vested with the same authority is of course not new to
us. But the method of identifying the
Dalai Lama and holding it as a single thread, is something nowhere else in the
world we come across. Perhaps, Dr.
Raghavan’s publisher would push him a bit further and get him chronicle about a
similar team of wise men from the East visiting a new born baby at Bethlehem.
Those of us who thought that only the
fourteenth Dalai Lama had to flee his country and live in exile, the book shows
that it was only history repeating itself, both times as tragedies. The thirteenth Dalai Lama had also to flee
from his country and come to India. That
was during the British rule.
The Dalai Lamas, with the exception of
the fifth and thirteenth appear to have done hardly anything for nation
building in Tibet. Intrigues regarding
the mysterious deaths of a number of Dalai Lamas also have been indicated as to
be the handiwork of those intermediaries who had tasted power.
The fourteenth Dalai Lama, with all
his knack, wisdom, sagacity and world stature, has not yet been able to get the
world’s attention for the plight of the Tibetans who have been compelled to
live under a foreign power or have been forced into exile. That has not however not prevented him from
performing a stupendous task of getting all the Tibetans educated and enabling
them to settle down ‘in exile’.
In spite of the continuing protests by
Tibetans all over the world, the world appears not to have paid heed to
it. The author examines the reasons why
Tibet finds itself without friends. The
Dalai Lama also in his interview, published in the book, states that Tibet
failed to grow with the outer world and hence is paying heavily for it. Perhaps
this solitary concept of not growing with the outer world alone justifies that
piece of the area being called a ‘Shangri La’.
But that is disconcerting rather than comforting.
The book brings out without glossing
over, how India has been for tactical reasons again and again refused to have a
hand in the fight for independence by Tibetans.
It shows how the Great Britain loses its interest in the affairs of
Tibet once the Sun had set in its own empire and how the USA which at one time
tried to cozy up to them silently withdrew once the cold war was over and
engagement with China on the economic front became a fiat accompli. Of course the
Dalai Lama, in his interview, states that he believes that the support of the
USA has been genuine right from the beginning.
However, it is a well known fact that when compared to the issues of
Palestine or Israel, that of Tibet is very mildly mentioned in International
sphere.
The decision of The Dalai Lama to
divide the spiritual and temporal head has been described in detail. In his own humorous style the Dalai Lama, in
his interview states that by retiring from being the temporal head, which had
been a four century old tradition started by the fifth Dalai Lama, he does not
know whether the 5th Dalai Lama would support him or not. It is,
however an ingenious master stroke in enabling democracy in Tibet, because with
their animosity towards a spiritual leadership, China could by no stretch of
imagination be expected to relax its hold.
However, even with that distancing, whether China would allow the
territory to go out of its control is a question not begging an answer. Even the mild Middle Way Approach propounded
by the Dalai Lama is not till date accepted by China.
The Chinese, irrespective of whoever
has been in power have shown ingenious methods of brow beating any move by the
Tibetans to even slightly assert their rights.
When Tibet sent a team to Beijing in 1951 to hold negotiations with the
Chinese, not only did China corner the delegation to accepting a 17 point
agreement, almost entirely giving the handle to China, but even made the seal
for the delegates with their full name, even when the delegates had not been
sent with the seals from Tibet. Even the
third Oracle which cried “Go, go, tonight”, to the present Dalai Lama, thus
forcing him to flee his country and enter into exile, could easily be traced to
the Chinese hand at creating a situation, according to their design, because,
on the previous two occasions, the oracle had asked him to stay put. And as the
author himself later says, ‘with the benefit of hindsight, it is possible to
observe that the Chinese administration made full use of the Dalai Lama’s
escape’, and also that ‘there has always existed a lingering doubt as to
whether the Chinese leadership had allowed Dalai Lama to escape from Tibet and
seek asylum in India’.
Even at a very young age, the present Dalai
Lama had identified the cunningness of Chou En Lai, whom he described as a
“full of smiles and charm and swift intelligence…was over polite, which is
invariably a sign of someone not to be trusted”. When reading it, one only could wonder how
the great Punditji did not have this insight.
A lot of research has gone into the
penning of this book. It appears that
the author was conscious not to make it bulky and thus another sleep inducing
history book. But some details have
become a casualty because of too many events crowding over to an extent that it
fails to sink in. Of course describing
the events of a whole century is no easy thing, particularly in respect of a
community upon which international concern does not appear to be as much as in
respect of other freedom struggles.
If the book could explain the tactical
and geographical advantage China enjoys by holding on to Tibet in more detail,
it is felt, it could put the future in a better perspective. The publisher also would do well in putting
the map in the opening of the book, because geography also weighs upon history
of any piece of land.
If Christ prescribed the heart of a
dove and the mind of a serpent to survive among wolves, we do not what more
complicated concoctions could be required to face a fire spitting dragon. The Dalai Lama has the loving kind heart of a
dove. His mind is also sharp. The Tibetans also have an undying faith in
him. But wars are fought with strategies.
If the book reiterates anything, it is that Tibetans are highly ill
equipped in forming and executing strategies.
The author brings to end the
narrations of a harrowing account by positive assertion that ‘history of
mankind teaches one that struggles for upholding the dignity of human beings
have never been met with failure; sooner or later the principles of liberty,
equality and justice have triumphed over the brute forces of authoritarianism
and injustice”.
This reminds one of the teary eyed
Tagore defiantly stating on his eightieth birthday, “And I shall yet not make
the grievous mistake of losing faith in man”.
