Caravan to Lhasa
{{Short description|Book by Kamal Ratna Tuladhar}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Caravan to Lhasa
| title_orig =
| image = Caravan to lhasa book cover.jpg
| author = Kamal Ratna Tuladhar
| publisher = Various
| genre = Travel literature
| release_date = 2011 (second edition)
| media_type = Print (Paperback)
| isbn = 9789994658916
}}
Caravan to Lhasa is a travel book and an account of the lives of expatriate Nepalese merchants in Lhasa from the 1920s to the 1960s. Written by Kamal Ratna Tuladhar, the book describes the caravan journey from Kathmandu across the Himalaya, and the life and times of the Newar traders in Tibet through the experiences of his merchant father Karuna Ratna Tuladhar (1920-2008) and uncles.{{cite news |last= Prasai |first= Ujjwal |title= Family History |url= http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2011/12/16/books/family-history/229395.html |archive-url= https://archive.today/20130121230240/http://www.ekantipur.com/the-kathmandu-post/2011/12/16/books/family-history/229395.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= January 21, 2013 |access-date= 15 October 2012 |newspaper= The Kathmandu Post |date= 16 December 2011 }}{{cite news |last= Bajracharya |first= Himesh |title= Lhasa legacy |url= http://www.ekantipur.com/kantipur/news/news-detail.php?news_id=272818 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20130122100400/http://www.ekantipur.com/kantipur/news/news-detail.php?news_id=272818 |url-status= dead |archive-date= 22 January 2013 |access-date= 25 May 2013 |newspaper= Kantipur |date= 16 June 2012 }}
Karuna Ratna spent 17 years in Lhasa, from 1935-1946 and 1949-1954. He was born in Kathmandu to a merchant family, and took over the ancestral shop in Lhasa after his father's death in 1935.
Caravan to Lhasa is based on the centuries-old history of Kathmandu's Lhasa Newar merchants who lived for long periods at their business houses in Tibet and India, and operated a trading network linking South and Central Asia.{{cite web |url = http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/2013/06/2013623123438887107.html |title = Renewed Nepali trade route draws regional ire |last = Kaye|first = Melati |date = 29 June 2013 |website = Al Jazeera |access-date= 7 July 2013}}{{cite web |url = http://tibetanhistory-20thcentury.wikischolars.columbia.edu/Newar+Merchants+of+Kathmandu+in+Traditional+Tibet |title = Newar Merchants of Kathmandu in Traditional Tibet |last = Yoon |first = Sungoh |website = Tibetan Biographies |access-date= 1 May 2014}}
The book ends with the final return of the merchants after the Chinese takeover of Tibet and the flight of the Dalai Lama to India in 1959. The first edition appeared in 2004.{{cite news|last=Aikat |first=Kajori |title=Book Review: Caravan to Lhasa |newspaper=ECS |date=February 2005}} Page 99.{{cite news|title=Just published |url=http://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/jns/pdf/JNS_05.pdf |access-date= 29 March 2013 |newspaper=A Journal of Newar Studies |date=May 2004}} Page 11.