Ganden Phodrang

"Ganden Phodrang" originally referred to the residential quarters of the Dalai Lama lineage at Drepung Monastery since the 2nd Dalai Lama. When the 5th Dalai Lama came to power and the expansion of the Potala Palace began, the Dalai Lama moved away from the actual quarters Ganden Phodrang and stayed at the Potala in the winter and Norbulingka in the summer. According to some, the Ganden Phodrang is represented by the Central Tibetan Administration or Dalai Lama's government-in-exile in Dharamshala, India after 1959. However, this is "Ganden Phodrang" in a different sense, the personal service or labrang of the Dalai Lama.

Image:Potala palace21.jpg in Lhasa.]]

Altan Khan of the Tümed Mongols chose the Gelug order of Tibetan Buddhism as his Buddhist faith. In 1577 he invited the leader of this order, Sonam Gyatso, to come to Mongolia and teach his people. He designated Sonam Gyatso as "Dalai" (a translation into Mongolian of the name Gyatso, meaning "ocean"). As a result, Sonam Gyatso became known as the Dalai Lama. Since this title was also posthumously given to Gendun Drup and Gendun Gyatso, who were considered Sonam Gyatso's previous incarnations, Sonam Gyatso was recognized as being already the 3rd Dalai Lama.

The 5th Dalai Lama (r. 1642–1682) is known for unifying the Tibetan heartland under the control of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, after defeating the rival Kagyu and Jonang sects and the secular ruler, the Tsangpa prince, in a prolonged civil war. His efforts were successful in part because of aid from Güshi Khan, the Oirat leader who established the Khoshut Khanate. With Güshi Khan as a completely uninvolved patron, who had conferred supreme authority on the Dalai Lama for the whole of Tibet at a ceremony at Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse,{{sfn|Shakabpa|1984|p=111}} the 5th Dalai Lama and his intimates established a civil administration which is referred to by historians as the Lhasa state. All power and authority lay in the hands of the Dalai Lama right up to his death and Güshi Khan did not interfere in the administration nor tried to control its policies.{{sfn|Shakabpa|1984|p=124}} The core leadership of this government is also referred to as the "Ganden Phodrang" or "Ganden Podrang", derived from the name of the estate of the Dalai Lamas at Drepung Monastery.

The 5th Dalai Lama initiated the construction of the Potala Palace in Lhasa on the site of the Red Fort, and moved the centre of government there from Drepung. It remained the chief residence of the Dalai Lama until the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India during the 1959 Tibetan uprising.

From 1679 to 1684, the Ganden Phodrang fought in the Tibet–Ladakh–Mughal War against the Namgyal dynasty of neighboring Ladakh, with the 5th Dalai Lama overruling the advice of his Prime Minister.{{rp|349|quote=Firstly, from the passage dated 5 July 1679, it seems that the decision to send the expedition to Ladakh was taken by the 5th Dalai Lama himself who, concurring with the advice given by dGa'-lDan Tshe-dBan dPal bZan (that an expedition be sent), over-ruled the advice given by the sDe-pa Blo-bZan sByin-pa (that the expedition be postponed). It should be remembered that the sDe-pa Blo bZan sByin-pa was, at this time, in the very last days of his tenure of office as sDe-pa. Already Already on 27 June 1679, a notice has been issued, naming Sans-rGyas rGya-mTsho as sDe-pa}} The 5th Dalai Lama died in 1682 and the subsequent Prime Minister, Desi Sangye Gyatso,{{cite journal |last=Ahmad |first=Zahiruddin |year=1968 |title=New light on the Tibet-Ladakh-Mughal war of 1679—1684 |journal=East and West |volume=18 |issue=3/4 |pages=340–361 |jstor=29755343}}{{rp|342|quote=Sans-rGyas rGya-mTsho (1653–1705), sDe-pa or Prime Minister of Tibet 1679–1705}}{{rp|351|quote=Now, in 1684, the government of Tibet, headed by the sDe-pa Sans-rGyas rGya-mTsho, annexed Gu-ge to Tibet, and fixed the frontier between Ladakh and Tibet at the lHa-ri stream at bDe-mChog.}} agreed on the 1684 Treaty of Tingmosgang with the King Delek Namgyal of Ladakh to end the war.{{rp|351–353|quote=We produce now a new translation of the Ladakh Chronicles [...] bDe-legs rNam-rGyal, came to the kingship [of Ladakh] [...] Thereupon, the Government of Tibet, being afraid that the King of Ladakh and his troops might, once again, make war (on Tibet), ordered the 'Brug-pa Mi-'pham dBaii-po that he ought to go (to Ladakh) in order to establish peace. [...] With this exception, the frontier (of Ladakh) was fixed as from the IHa-ri stream at bDe-mChog.}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4oduAAAAMAAJ |title=The Kingdom of Ladakh: C. 950–1842 A.D. |first=Luciano |last=Petech |author-link=Luciano Petech |publisher=Istituto italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente |year=1977|isbn=9788863230581 }}{{rp|171–172|quote=bDe-legs-n.g. co-regent (1680-1691)}} The original text of the Treaty of Tingmosgang no longer survives, but its contents are summarized in the Ladakh Chronicles.{{citation |last=Lamb |first=Alastair |title=Treaties, Maps and the Western Sector of the Sino-Indian Boundary Dispute |journal=The Australian Year Book of International Law |year=1965 |pages=37–52 |url=http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AUYrBkIntLaw/1965/4.pdf}}{{rp|37|quote=No text of this agreement between Tibet and Ladakh survives, but there are references to it in chronicles}}{{rp|38|quote=There can be no doubt that the 1684 (or 1683) agreement between Ladakh and the authorities then controlling Tibet did in fact take place. Unfortunately, no original text of it has survived and its terms can only be deduced. In its surviving form there seems to be a reference to a boundary point at "the Lhari stream at Demchok", a stream which would appear to flow into the Indus at Demchok and divide that village into two halves.}}{{rp|40|quote=The treaty that could have given this information, that of 1684, has not survived in the form of its full text, and we have no means of determining exactly what line of frontier was contemplated in 1684. The chronicles which refer to this treaty are singularly deficient in precise geographical details.}}

The Dzungar–Qing Wars (1687–1757) between the Dzungar Khanate and Qing China had a major impact for Tibet. While the military landscape of Inner Asia in the late 17th century was dominated by the conflict between the Dzungars and the Qing, the Ganden Phodrang regime was also involved in the war because of its religious role, which was sometimes disingenuous.Alice Travers and Solomon George FitzHerbert,[https://hal.science/hal-02511607 "Introduction: Ganden Phodrang's Military Institutions and Culture between the 17th and 20th centuries, at a Crossroads of Influences"], Revue d'Études Tibétaines, mars 2020, Asian Influences on Tibetan Military History between the 17th and 20th Centuries, Paris, No. 53. In 1705, the Qing conspired with a Dzungar faction to kidnap the 6th Dalai Lama, after the murder of his regent and government official. Due to these actions, Tibet's relationship with the Mongols declined in popularity.

{{Main|Tibet under Qing rule}}

In 1717, the last khan of the Khoshut Khanate, Lha-bzang Khan, was killed by the Mongol Dzungar Khanate forces invading Lhasa. The Dzungar forces were in turn expelled by the expedition forces of the Qing dynasty from Tibet in 1720, thus beginning the period of Qing rule of Tibet. Tibet was a protectorate of the Qing while remaining a priest and patron relationship. The Qing dynasty exerted military and administrative control over Tibet while granting it a degree of political autonomy.{{citation |last=Cheng |first=Hong |title=The Theory and Practice of the East Asian Library |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|date=2023|isbn=978-1-5275-9202-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t1GqEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA105}}

The Kashag, the governing council of Tibet that lasted in Lhasa until the 1950s, was created in 1721 by the Qing. The council was to govern Tibet under the close supervision of the Chinese garrison commander stationed in Lhasa, who quite often interfered with the decisions of the Kashag, especially when Chinese interests were involved.{{citation |last=Norbu |first=Dawa |title=China's Tibet Policy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EGqyIgOlUCIC&pg=PA76 |date= 2001 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-79793-4 |page=76}}

Soon after 1727 the skilful and politically astute Tibetan leader Pholhane reorganized the administration and army with Qing's support. After the death of Pholhane in 1747, his son Gyurme Namgyal moved to end the cooperation with Qing China by trying to expel the last of their troops from Lhasa, whose numbers varied over the decades. He was murdered by two Qing China ambassadors (ambans) in 1750, both of whom were killed by Gyurme Namgyal's army during the subsequent riot in Lhasa. After the riot, Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty sent an army to Tibet and reorganized the Tibetan government in 1751, including the Kashag which was further set by the Qing.

In 1788, problematic relations with Nepal led to wars with Nepal. Tibetans requested Qing intervention, which resulted in the Sino-Nepalese War. After the war, Nepal also agreed to accept the suzerainty of the Chinese emperor. Qing also issued the "Twenty-Nine Article Imperial Ordinance of 1793", which was designed to enhance the ambans' status, and ordered them to control border inspections, and serve as conduits through which the Dalai Lama and his cabinet were to communicate with the Qing emperors. The Golden Urn system was also instituted in this degree, although the system was not always used (in such cases the amban was consulted).

By the mid-19th century, Chinese hegemony over Tibet became weaker. In 1841-1842, the Tibetan army defeated the Sikh Empire's Dogra forces in the Dogra–Tibetan War, leading to a treaty agreeing on status quo ante. In the third Nepalese war (1855–1856) Tibet was defeated by the Nepal, but the resulting Treaty of Thapathali included provisions for mutual aid against aggressors.

{{cite book

|last1 = Smith

|first1 = Warren W.

|date = 31 July 2019

|orig-date = 1996

|title = Tibetan Nation: A History Of Tibetan Nationalism And Sino-tibetan Relations

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OXmmDwAAQBAJ

|publication-place = New York

|publisher = Routledge

|isbn = 9781000612288

|access-date = 13 November 2022

|quote = [...] assistance by Nepal to Tibet, whether under the Nepalese-Tibetan treaty of 1856 or not [...].

}}

The first Europeans to arrive in Tibet were the Portuguese missionaries António de Andrade and Manuel Marques in 1624. They were welcomed by the King and Queen of Guge, and were allowed to build a church and to introduce the Christian faith. The king of Guge eagerly accepted Christianity as an offsetting religious influence to dilute the thriving Gelugpa and to counterbalance his potential rivals and consolidate his position. All missionaries were expelled in 1745.

{{cite journal|author1-link=Lin Hsiao-ting |last=Lin |first=Hsiao-ting |title=When Christianity and Lamaism Met: The Changing Fortunes of Early Western Missionaries in Tibet |journal=Pacific Rim Report |number=36 |date=December 2004 |publisher=University of San Francisco |url=http://www.pacificrim.usfca.edu/research/pacrimreport/pacrimreport36.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100626095547/http://www.pacificrim.usfca.edu/research/pacrimreport/pacrimreport36.html |archive-date=2010-06-26}}

{{cite news |title=BBC News Country Profiles Timeline: Tibet |date=2009-11-05 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/country_profiles/6299565.stm |access-date=2009-03-05}}

Stein 1972, pg. 83

{{full citation needed|date=July 2020}}

{{Main|Tibet (1912–1951)|Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China}}

After the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, which ended Qing rule over Tibet, the 13th Dalai Lama declared himself ruler of an independent Tibet. It was considered by the Republic of China as a part of the new republic, which gave Tibet the status of an "Area".{{clarification needed|date=August 2020|reason=The previous two sentences are mixed up.}} With its proclamation of independence and conduct of its own internal and external affairs in this era, Tibet is regarded as a "de facto independent state" during this period.

This would last until the 1950s, when Tibet was annexed by the People's Republic of China. The Kashag state structure remained in place for a few years but was formally dissolved in 1959 after the 1959 Tibetan uprising. The Tibet Autonomous Region was established by China in 1965 out of a part of the Tibetan ethno-cultural area. The Central Tibetan Administration was established by the 14th Dalai Lama and based in McLeod Ganj India since 1959.

• Kashag
• Dalai Lama
• Mongol conquest of Tibet
• Khoshut Khanate
• Dzungar Khanate
• Tibet under Qing rule
• Tibet (1912–1951)
• List of rulers of Tibet
• Tibetan Government-in-Exile
• Sikyong
• Lobsang Sangay

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• {{citation |last=Shakabpa |first=W. D. |title=Tibet: A Political History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iKziAAAAMAAJ |year=1984 |publisher=Potala Publications |isbn=978-0-9611474-1-9}}

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{{Dalai Lamas}}

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Category:17th century in Tibet

Category:18th century in Tibet

Category:19th century in Tibet

Category:20th century in Tibet

Category:Dalai Lamas