Dalai Lama, India 1959

Dalai Lama, India 1959

Dalai Lama Reaches India (1959) | British Pathé

The 23 year old god king of Tibet makes his first public appearance since his escape from the Chinese communists. In Tezpur, a tea growing center of north-eastern India, the Dalai Lama is greeted by enthusiastic crowds. For more than two weeks he has been sheltered in inaccessible frontier territory, out of reach even to news men. Now the Dalai Lama is clearly among friends. Most of the people of this area are Buddhists who hold him in the highest veneration. As he walks to a platform on the grounds of the local college, people from miles around have come to be in his presence and receive his blessing. The Dalai Lama receives a scarf, and puts one in turn around the neck of the mayor, part of the welcoming ceremony. Next the Tibetan leader greets the crowd in traditional Indian fashion, and speaks a few words of benediction. While in Tezpur, the Dalai Lama also issues a statement strongly condemning red China for breaking all promises to respect Tibet's rights. Then he departs for Mussoorie, the Indian resort where he will live in exile.


Dalai Lama In India (1959) | British Pathé

Tezpur, in the north-east of India, has become known all over the world, for it was here that India received the Dalai Lama after his flight from Tibet. India offered the god king of Buddhism a safe refuge from the communist Chinese. To Tezpur flocked reporters, representing the press of all the free world. By jeeps, the god king and his entourage travel the last stage of their perilous 300 mile journey. No one could have told from his unruffled bearing, as he was greeted by high Indian officials and presented with the white scarf token of friendship, that the Dalai Lama had been in mortal danger since he left Lhasa. The 23 year old spiritual head of the 500 million Buddhists throughout the far east confirmed that he had been forced to leave his capital. His mother, center wearing dark glasses, sister and other relatives have accompanied him from Lhasa. They were all to rest a short time at the Circuit House. The bearded La-Kungwa, former premier of Tibet, but exiled for the last five years, came from Kalimpong to meet the Dalai Lama, for all Buddhists are united in revering the god king. Arrangements had already been made to convey the holy man, his relatives and council, to Mussoorie, more than six hundred miles to the west. The family party numbered the Dalai Lama's brother. Meanwhile, preparations were afoot for the long rail journey that lay ahead, a drain on the catering resources at Tezpur. Soon after his arrival at Circuit House, the Dalai Lama took the opportunity to give his blessings to the vast assembly of more than 7,000 who are converged upon Tezpur in the hope of receiving it. It has astounded Buddhists throughout the far east that the Chinese government should have apparently gone out of its way to affront the Dalai Lama. And though the god king appears to bear his oppressors no ill will, all who know the oriental world are convinced that in attacking Lhasa, the Peking government has committed an error likely to have lasting consequences. The Buddhist world prays for the day when the Dalai Lama will be restored to his earthly capital.


Selected Originals - Dalai Lama In India (1959) | British Pathé | Selected originals (offcuts, selected scenes, out-takes, rushes) for story "Dalai Lama in India"

Assam Prepares To Receive Dalai Lama (1959) | British Pathé | Unissued / unused material.