The Dalai Lama’s Brother

On a cold winter morning in Kalimpong, a morning so cold that most individuals would have preferred sleeping in, a vast number of people could be seen making their way out of the town’s main bazaar and into a private residence some two miles away.

Kalimpong is located at the foothills of the Himalayas in West Bengal, just about a couple of hours by road from the tourist town of Darjeeling. Like many towns in these parts, it has witnessed rapid changes over the last few decades, its growing population and the many buildings and establishments that have sprung up giving this once quiet town the impression that it is almost bursting at its seams.

But the residence these individuals were entering, Taktser House, located up a hill in the town’s 8th mile locality, seemed indifferent to the changes that were happening outside its gate. Taktser House rarely ever sees much activity. Stretching across some three acres, the only people seen entering it would be the few workers employed at the noodle factory located in its premises, and the occasional visitor dropping in.

But this morning of 11 February was different. A vast retinue of people, from local leaders, dignitaries from Dharamsala, to local Tibetans had been pouring in over the last few days, and their their numbers today swelled even more, even as the sound of clashing cymbals and chanting by monks, and the smell of juniper being burnt as offering filled the cold air.

The house’s somewhat reclusive owner, and arguably the town’s most prominent resident, Gyalo Thondup, had passed away. He had died on 8 December presumably at the age of 97. (His exact date of birth is not known.) And his cremation was now underway.

To most residents of the town, Thondup would be known as the elder brother of the 14th Dalai Lama, and, to some, even as the owner of a popular egg noodle brand (Trans Himalayan Food). Thondup however was an influential figure in his own right, someone whose shadow continues to loom large over modern Tibetan history. He played key roles networking and liaising with government bodies and agencies when Tibet was annexed by China. He was instrumental in securing political asylum for his famous younger brother, got the CIA to back an armed uprising by Tibetans against the Chinese, which eventually ended tragically, and would later became his brother’s envoy.

The two brothers however could not be more different. While the Dalai Lama remained at the forefront of the Tibetan movement, hobnobbing with celebrities and heads of states, and getting feted worldwide for his efforts on championing nonviolence and compassion, Thondup operated more behind the scenes, forever travelling between Washington, New Delhi, Taiwan and Hong Kong, courting powerful foreign leaders, networking with spies, and was not averse to organising an armed movement. After his death, the Dalai Lama issued a statement describing Thondup as someone who did his best for the Tibetan cause. “I pray that he will take a good rebirth as a Tibetan again and that he will be able to serve the Tibetan administration that is a combination of spirituality and politics once more,” he said.

Thondup was born in the village of Taktser (after which his house in Kalimpong was named) in the Tibetan province of Amdo probably around 1929. Of the five male siblings who survived into adulthood, he was the only one who did not become a monk. He had always been earmarked to serve his famous younger brother in matters of state. His education began in earnest in 1945, when his father Choekyong Tsering and Tibet’s then regent Reting Rinpoche sent him to Nanjing, then the capital of China, to acquire a modern education. Thondup lived in China for many years, learning the language, befriending the then-president and Nationalist Chiang Kai-Shek, and even married the daughter of a Kuomintang general.

After the Dalai Lama arrived safely in India in 1959 – Thondup had played an instrumental role in securing political asylum from Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru – he became a leading figure within the new Tibetan government-in-exile, serving as the main spokesperson for Tibet to the Indian government and to other governments. He was fluent in Tibetan, Chinese and English, and this allowed him to communicate directly with many of the world’s leading figures. When Deng Xiaoping rose to power after the death of Mao Zedong, it was Thondup the Chinese leadership turned to re-establish contact with the Dalai Lama and the Tibetans in exile.

Behind the scenes and unbeknownst to his younger brother, Thondup was coordinating with the CIA to support a Tibetan resistance force against the Chinese. This would end tragically when the Richard Nixon administration realigned its relationship with Beijing in 1972, and the US left the Tibetans in the lurch. Thondup would go on to call this collaboration one of his life’s biggest regrets, something that he detailed in his memoirs <The Noodle Maker of Kalimpong> which he published in 2015.

For all the efforts he made towards the Tibet cause, a string of controversies also always trailed him, from his involvement with the CIA to the botched-up efforts to carry monastic wealth out of Tibet and into India after the Dalai Lama’s exile, many of which he sought to explain in his memoirs.

Thondup and his wife Diki Dolkar (her Chinese name was Zhu Dan) purchased a plot of land in Kalimpong in the 1950s, and the couple later opened a successful noodle factory sometime around 1980. Thondup began to live more permanently in the town in his later years. He had retreated from active public life, and even in the town, he was rarely ever seen participating in its cultural life. He was last seen publicly in 2023, when a frail Thondup traveled to Gangtok to meet the Dalai Lama who was in Sikkim on a visit.

With his death now, an important chapter in Tibetan history comes to an end.

Dalai LamadeathGyalo ThondupIn MemoriamTibetan historyWeb Exclusive