Page 129 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

HIM A CHAL PR ADESH  127

Little Tibet

When the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, fled Tibet in 1959 after the Chinese
occupation, Dharamsala became his new home and the base of the Tibetan
Government-in-Exile. The town is today often called Little Tibet, preserving Tibet’s
religious and cultural heritage, keeping the Tibetan cause alive internationally,
and serving as the focal point for the 100,000 Tibetans scattered in refugee
settlements all over India. Dharamsala also attracts Buddhists from across the
world, such as the Hollywood actor Richard Gere.

The Tibetan flag
is dominated by
a snow-covered
mountain repre-
senting Tibet.
The six red bands
symbolize the six
tribes of Tibet.
Religion and Culture
Dharamsala’s many monasteries and crafts centres,
and its performing arts school ensure that Tibet’s
distinctive religion and culture continue to flourish.

Tibetan opera, The Dalai Lama, who won the Nobel
known as Peace Prize in 1989, is head of the
lhamo, has Gelugpa or Yellow Hat sect (see p143)
traditional folk and is revered as Tibet’s god-king.
tales, legends
and myths as
its themes. Thunderbolt
sceptre

The altar in a
Tibetan monastery
includes, apart
from images of the
deities, seven ritual
bowls of water, Butter Prayer
butter lamps, sculpture bell
intricate butter
sculptures, as
well as a bell and a
thunderbolt sceptre
used during prayers
and special rites.

Thangkas, or
scroll paintings
framed in silk
depicting the
Buddhist
divinities, are
among the
Sand mandalas symbolizing the universe are traditional arts
meticulously created and then ceremon ially kept alive by
destroyed. They help monks to meditate. the refugees.
See also features on Buddhist Iconography (p145) and In the Buddha’s Footsteps (p225)

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