Khedrup Gyatso, 11th Dalai Lama

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Khedrup Gyatso, 11th Dalai Lama
Tibetan name
Tibetan: མཁས་གྲུབ་རྒྱ་མཚོ
Wylie transliteration: mkhas grub rgya mtsho
pronunciation in IPA: [kʰɛʈʂup catsʰɔ]
official transcription (PRC): Kaizhub Gyaco
THDL: Kedrup Gyatsho
other transcriptions: Khedrub Gyatso, Khedrup Gyatso
Chinese name
traditional: 凱珠嘉措
simplified: 凯珠嘉措
Pinyin: Kǎizhū Jiācuò
Khedrup Gyatso
11th Dalai Lama of Tibet
Reign 1844 – 1856
Born December 19, 1838
Died January 31, 1856
Place of death Lhasa, Tibet
Predecessor Tsultrim Gyatso, 10th Dalai Lama
Successor Trinley Gyatso, 12th Dalai Lama
Royal House Dalai Lama

Khedrup Gyatso was born on 1st November’ 1838 at Gathar (Gar-tar) in Kham Minyak to Tsetan Dhondup and Yungdrung Bhuti.[1] He died in the Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet on January 31, 1856). He was the 11th Dalai Lama of Tibet.

He was recognised as the Eleventh Dalai Lama in 1840, having come from the same village as Kelzang Gyatso, the seventh Dalai Lama, had in 1708. In 1841 the seventh Panchen Lama, Palden Tenpai Nyima, gave him the pre-novice ordination, cut his hair and gave him the name Khedrup Gyatso.[2]

In 1842, he was enthroned in the Potala Palace and, in 1846, at the age of eleven, he took the novice vows of monkhood from Fourth Panchen Lama.[3]

He was enthroned on May 25, 1842 and assumed full power on the request of his government on March 1, 1855. However, he died less than one year later, thus becoming the third successive Dalai Lama who died at too young an age to consolidate his power.

He wrote a book of moralistic stanzas, Story of the Monkeys and Birds (Bya sprel gyi gtam-rgyud). It is an allegory of the war at the end of the 18th century between the Tibetans and the Gurkhas ('birds' and 'monkeys' respectively).[4]

During the life of Khedrup Gyatso, wars over Ladakh weakened the lamas' power over the Tibetan Plateau and the Opium Wars and Taiping Rebellion simultaneously weakened Chinese influence on Tibet. This was to pave the way for efforts under the following Dalai Lama to seal Tibet off even more firmly from Western colonial influence which was seen as a threat to Tibetan culture and the power of the lamas.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ "The Eleventh Dalai Lama KHEDRUP GYATSO" [1]
  2. ^ "The Eleventh Dalai Lama KHEDRUP GYATSO" [2]
  3. ^ Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche. (1982). "Life and times of the Eighth to Twelfth Dalai Lamas." The Tibet Journal. Vol. VII Nos. 1 & 2. Spring/Summer 1982, p. 50.
  4. ^ Stein, R. A. (1972) Tibetan Civilization, p. 269. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-0806-1 (cloth); ISBN 0-8047-0901-7 (pbk)
Buddhist titles
Preceded by
Tsultrim Gyatso		 Reincarnation of the Dalai Lama Succeeded by
Trinley Gyatso
v • d • e
Dalai Lamas
Flag of the Tibet Government in Exile