Khedrup Gyatso, 11th Dalai Lama

Infobox Monarch
name =Khedrup Gyatso
title =11th Dalai Lama of Tibet


caption =
reign =1844 – 1856
coronation =
othertitles =
native_lang1 =Tibetan
native_lang1_name1=མཁས་གྲུབ་རྒྱ་མཚོ
native_lang2 =Wylie translit.
native_lang2_name1=mkhas grub rgya mtsho
native_lang3 =Pronunciation
native_lang3_name1=IPA| [kʰɛʈʂup catsʰɔ] (IPA)
native_lang4 =transcription (PRC)
native_lang4_name1=Kaizhub Gyaco
native_lang5 =THDL
native_lang5_name1=Kedrup Gyatsho
native_lang6 =other transcriptions
native_lang6_name1=Khedrub Gyatso, Khedrup Gyatso
full name =
predecessor =Tsultrim Gyatso, 10th Dalai Lama
successor =Trinley Gyatso, 12th Dalai Lama
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queen =
consort =
spouse 1 =
spouse 2 =
spouse 3 =
spouse 4 =
spouse 5 =
spouse 6 =
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royal house =Dalai Lama
dynasty =
royal anthem =
father =
mother =
date of birth =Birth date|1838|11|01
place of birth =
date of death =Death date and age|1856|01|31|1838|11|01
place of death =Lhasa, Tibet
date of burial =
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Khedrup Gyatso was born on 1st November 1838 at Gathar (Gar-tar) in Kham Minyak to Tsetan Dhondup and Yungdrung Bhuti. ["The Eleventh Dalai Lama KHEDRUP GYATSO" [http://namgyalmonastery.org/hhdl/hhdl11] ] He died in the Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet on January 31, 1856). He was the 11th Dalai Lama of Tibet.

He was recognised as the Eleventh Dalai Lama in 1840, having come from the same village as Kelzang Gyatso, the seventh Dalai Lama, had in 1708. In 1841 the seventh Panchen Lama, Palden Tenpai Nyima, gave him the pre-novice ordination, cut his hair and gave him the name Khedrup Gyatso. ["The Eleventh Dalai Lama KHEDRUP GYATSO" [http://namgyalmonastery.org/hhdl/hhdl11] ]

In 1842, he was enthroned in the Potala Palace and, in 1846, at the age of eleven, he took the novice vows of monkhood from Fourth Panchen Lama. [Khetsun Sangpo Rinpoche. (1982). "Life and times of the Eighth to Twelfth Dalai Lamas." "The Tibet Journal". Vol. VII Nos. 1 & 2. Spring/Summer 1982, p. 50.]

He was enthroned on May 25, 1842 and assumed full power on the request of his government on March 1, 1855. However, he died less than one year later, thus becoming the third successive Dalai Lama who died at too young an age to consolidate his power.

He wrote a book of moralistic stanzas, "Story of the Monkeys and Birds" ("Bya sprel gyi gtam-rgyud"). It is an allegory of the war at the end of the 18th century between the Tibetans and the Gurkhas ('birds' and 'monkeys' respectively). [Stein, R. A. (1972) "Tibetan Civilization", p. 269. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-0806-1 (cloth); ISBN 0-8047-0901-7 (pbk)]

During the life of Khedrup Gyatso, wars over Ladakh weakened the lamas' power over the Tibetan Plateau and the Opium Wars and Taiping Rebellion simultaneously weakened Chinese influence on Tibet. This was to pave the way for efforts under the following Dalai Lama to seal Tibet off even more firmly from Western colonial influence which was seen as a threat to Tibetan culture and the power of the lamas.

Footnotes

Further reading

* Mullin, Glenn H. (2001). "The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: A Sacred Legacy of Reincarnation", pp. 361-367. Clear Light Publishers. Santa Fe, New Mexico. ISBN 1-57416-092-3.