The Tibet House in New Delhi

The Tibet House in New Delhi provides glimpses ofarticles that deal with the so-called Tibet issue
Tibetan culture to the visitors. It is situated at theinvolving the Dalai Lama and the Chinese Government.
Institutional Area at Lodhi Road. It is an excellentThe book collection includes those books that Dalai
resource centre for those who look for informationLama took with him when he fled from Tibet on the
about the history of Tibet or Tibetan culture. Theface of mounting Chinese aggression.
activities of Tibet House have been shaped by theThe common people who visit the Tibet House in
long-standing issue of the alleged Chinese interventionDelhi, however, are not generally concerned with the
of Tibet. The Chinese government officials alwayspolitics. Most of such people look for decorative
maintain that Tibet is a part of China. They neverartifacts and antiques. And the Tibet House offers a
liked the fact that India provided political asylum tovast collection of such material. Some of the items
the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, Dalai Lama.are brought from Tibet when people fled from their
But Tibet House largely managed to steer clear ofhomeland fearing Chinese aggression. But many of
controversies that occasionally surface betweenthe items are made in the various Tibetan
China and Dalai Lama, on various affairs, such as thesettlements in India.
agitations of certain sections of Tibetan people duringThe museum in the Tibet House contains a large
the recently concluded Beijing Olympics.number of artifacts and curios. The main item in the
The Tibet House was established in 1965 by Dalaimuseum is Tankhas. These are the painted scrolls
Lama. It is said that Tibetan refugees started comingthat depict the entire life of Buddha. Small statues
to India even from the late 1950s fearing the allegedand figurines of Buddha are also prominent attractions
atrocities by the Chinese army. The institution is aof the museum. Old currency notes, Tibetan musical
result of those early refugees' efforts. The institutioninstruments, prayer and ritual material of Tibetan
hosts a museum that exhibits Tibetan artifacts andpeople, and exquisitely carved Tibetan jewellery are
other memorabilia of Tibetan origin. It also has athe other major items in the museum. Tibet house
neatly maintained library where books and periodicalsalso has a shop that sells various Tibetan specialties
that deal with various aspects of Tibetan people andfrom clothes to medicine. One can find a number of
their culture. One can find plenty of books andhandicraft and antique materials in the shop.