Twenty Years in Tibet

These are the personal reminiscences of Mr. D. Macdonald, and emissary of the British, into Lhasa in the early Twentieth century. Of half Sikkimese birth, the author, with his deep knowledge of the Tibetan life and religion, which included sharing a bed-room with his holiness, the Dalai Lama for a night!

The period spent by him in Lhasa, was one of crucial significance in history and included, among other significant events, Colonel Young husband’s mission to Lhasa in 1904, the flight of the Dalai Lama in 1910 and his return in the year 1912. With the deep insight of a participant the author chronicles the sequences of events which shook the foundations of the ancient Tibetan civilization replacing it with a new era where the Chinese and the British, both played a significant role. The author was a party to the Sino-Tibetan treaty signed in 1918 and a central actor in much of the drama that unfolded in this region.

His pen brings to life these events, and the central players to them such as the Dalai Lama and the Tasho Lama and a number of personalities, British and Tibetan, both, who were involved. The significant contribution of this book lies not only in being a chronicle of historical events but in also containing vivid descriptions of every day life in Tibet: of a now bygone civilization. One is treated to detailed accounts of marriages, rituals, food habits, healing practices, dress and many such aspects of culture which are lost for ever, and now live only on these pages.

A most absorbing book, a delightful feast for readers of history, culture and good story.