Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE PLAYBOY LAMA
Tsangyang Gyatso (1683-1706), the young man chosen as the sixth Dalai Lama, was,
shall we say, unconventional. A sensual youth with long hair and a penchant for erotic
verse, he soon proved himself to be far more interested in wine and women than medita-
tion and study. He refused to take his final vows as a monk and he would often sneak out
of the Potala at night to raise hell in the inns and brothels of Lhasa, under the pseudonym
Norsang Wangpo. A resident Jesuit monk described him as a 'dissolute youth' and 'quite
depraved', noting that 'no good-looking person of either sex was safe from his unbridled
licentiousness'.
Fans of Great Game history can visit Gyantse Dzong and nearby Tsechen Dzong, both of
which were taken by Younghusband in 1904, as well as the Karo-la, scene of the highest
battle in British Imperial history.
Tibetan Independence Revisited
In 1911 a revolution finally toppled the decadent Qing dynasty in China, and by the end of
1912 the last of the occupying Manchu forces were escorted out of Tibet. In January 1913
the 13th Dalai Lama returned to Lhasa from Sikkim.
In reply to overtures from the government of the new Chinese republic, the Dalai Lama
replied that he was uninterested in ranks bestowed by the Chinese and that he was assum-
ing temporal and spiritual leadership of his country.
Tibetans have since read this reply as a formal declaration of independence. As for the
Chinese, they chose to ignore it, reporting that the Dalai Lama had responded with a letter
expressing his great love for the motherland. Whatever the case, Tibet was to enjoy 30
years free of interference from China. What is more, Tibet was suddenly presented with an
opportunity to create a state that was ready to rise to the challenge of the modern world.
The opportunity foundered on Tibet's entrenched theocratic institutions, and Tibetan inde-
pendence was a short-lived affair.
