Tawang, Monpas and Tibetan Buddhism in Transition


Book Description

This book presents various facets of border life in the strategic eastern sector of the India-China frontier, i.e. the Monpas of Tawang. It addresses the history of the Monpas’ transnational cultural and religious interaction. The respective chapters cover diverse topics such as culture, religion, the environment, border management, and social activism. The book offers a compelling analysis of Mon identity, their lifestyles in transition, and the reach of development politics in the Tawang borderland. It maximizes the reader's insights into development works in borderlands. This book is an essential guide for students, scholars, activists, policy makers, and anyone interested in learning about this unique geographical borderland of Monpa.




A History of Buddhism in India and Tibet


Book Description

The first complete English translation of an important thirteenth-century history that sheds light on Tibet’s imperial past and on the transmission of the Buddhadharma into Central Asia. Translated here into English for the first time in its entirety by perhaps the foremost living expert on Tibetan histories, this engaging translation, along with its ample annotation, is a must-have for serious readers and scholars of Buddhist studies. In this history, discover the first extensive biography of the Buddha composed in the Tibetan language, along with an account of subsequent Indian Buddhist history, particularly the writing of Buddhist treatises. The story then moves to Tibet, with an emphasis on the rulers of the Tibetan empire, the translators of Buddhist texts, and the lineages that transmitted doctrine and meditative practice. It concludes with an account of the demise of the monastic order followed by a look forward to the advent of the future Buddha Maitreya. The composer of this remarkably ecumenical Buddhist history compiled some of the most important early sources on the Tibetan imperial period preserved in his time, and his work may be the best record we have of those sources today. Dan Martin has rendered the richness of this history an accessible part of the world’s literary heritage.




India and Tibet


Book Description

The British military and political expedition which, under the command of Francis Younghusband, entered Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, in August 1904, marked the culmination of Britain's attempts, over 140 years, to establish good relations with Tibet. A treaty was signed but, in 1910, Tibet was invaded by China. This book, first published in the year of the Chinese invasion, is Younghusband's own account of the expedition, its nature, and the profound consequences of its repudiation.




Tibet, Saga of Indian Explorers (1864-1894)


Book Description

By the middle of the nineteenth century the English were beginning to enjoy the fruits of their colonial empire. Military strategy and the political considerations, along with pressure from their intelligentsia for the safety of their colonial empire, and of course geographical expediencies forced the English authorities in the later half of the nineteenth century to begin seriously to collect information, both geographical and of general nature, about the vast terra incognita that was there all along the land frontiers of India since the prehistoric age. These were the regions where the English could travel in those days only at the risk to their lives. Strategically, they opted for sending the natives of the border region who were accustomed to frequent Tibet, Turkestan and the adjacent regions since early historical period for trade and religious pilgrimages. With the creation of the Establishment for Trans-Himalayan Exploration in 15 May 1863, and trained with elementary survey instruments the explorers began to systematically infiltrate in the northern regions in various disguises. The present work is mostly based on their diaries' and reports' submitted to the Survey department. Part I describes the beauty of the rugged country including its geographical and geological growth in much detail for the first time. The social, economic, cultural and religious activities of life in Tibet are very diligently described by the Indian explorers in Part II.







Imagined Geographies in the Indo-Tibetan Borderlands


Book Description

This book is an ethnography of culture and politics in Monyul, a Tibetan Buddhist cultural region in west Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India. For nearly three centuries, Monyul was part of the Tibetan state, and the Monpas, as the communities inhabiting this region are collectively known, participated in trans-Himalayan trade and pilgrimage. Following the colonial demarcation of the Indo-Tibetan boundary in 1914, the fall of the Tibetan state in 1951, and the India-China boundary war in 1962, Monyul was gradually integrated into India and the Monpas became one of the Scheduled Tribes of India. In 2003, the Monpas began a demand for autonomy, under the leadership of Tsona Gontse Rinpoche. This book examines the narratives and politics of the autonomy movement regarding language, place-names, and trans-border kinship, against the backdrop of the India-China border dispute. It explores how the Monpas negotiate multiple identities to imagine new forms of community that transcend regional and national borders.







The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History


Book Description

The Encyclopedia of Women in World History captures the experiences of women throughout world history in a comprehensive, 4-volume work. Although there has been extensive research on women in history by region, no text or reference work has comprehensively covered the role women have played throughout world history. The past thirty years have seen an explosion of research and effort to present the experiences and contributions of women not only in the Western world but across the globe. Historians have investigated womens daily lives in virtually every region and have researched the leadership roles women have filled across time and region. They have found and demonstrated that there is virtually no historical, social, or demographic change in which women have not been involved and by which their lives have not been affected. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History benefits greatly from these efforts and experiences, and illuminates how women worldwide have influenced and been influenced by these historical, social, and demographic changes. The Encyclopedia contains over 1,250 signed articles arranged in an A-Z format for ease of use. The entries cover six main areas: biographies; geography and history; comparative culture and society, including adoption, abortion, performing arts; organizations and movements, such as the Egyptian Uprising, and the Paris Commune; womens and gender studies; and topics in world history that include slave trade, globalization, and disease. With its rich and insightful entries by leading scholars and experts, this reference work is sure to be a valued, go-to resource for scholars, college and high school students, and general readers alike.




British India and Tibet: 1766-1910


Book Description

This book, first published in 1960 and revised in 1986, is an important analysis of the under-studied Northern frontier of the British Indian Empire. It considers British relations across the Himalayas, looking at encounters with Bhutan, Sikkim, Nepal and Tibet.