Khedrup Gyatso (1 November 1838 – 31 January 1856) was the 11th

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current D ...

of Tibet. He was recognised as the Eleventh Dalai Lama in 1840, having come from the same village as

Kelzang Gyatso Kelzang Gyatso (; 1708–1757), also spelled Kalzang Gyatso, Kelsang Gyatso and Kezang Gyatso, was the 7th Dalai Lama of Tibet, recognized as the true incarnation of the 6th Dalai Lama, and enthroned after a pretender was deposed. The Seventh D ...

, the seventh Dalai Lama, had in 1708. In 1841,

Palden Tenpai Nyima, 7th Panchen Lama Palden Tenpai Nyima (1782–1853) was the 7th Panchen Lama of Tibet. Early life and reign Lobsang Palden Yeshe, the previous Panchen Lama, died from smallpox in Beijing in 1780. His brother Shamarpa, who was acting as regent, wrote to the Brit ...

, gave him the pre-novice ordination, cut his hair and gave him the name Khedrup Gyatso. In 1842, he was enthroned in the Potala Palace and, in 1849, at the age of eleven, he took the novice vows of monkhood from Palden Tenpai Nyima, 7th Panchen Lama He was enthroned on 25 May 1842 and assumed full power on the request of his government on 1 March 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. :"During the period of the short-lived Dalai Lamas—from the Ninth to the Twelfth incarnations—the

Panchen The Panchen Lama () is a tulku of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in the Gelug tradition, with its spiritual authority second only to Dalai Lama. Along with the council of high lamas, he ...

was the lama of the hour, filling the void left by the four Dalai Lamas who died in their youth." He wrote a book of stanzas, ''Story of the Monkeys and Birds'' (). It is an allegory of the war at the end of the 18th century between the Tibetans and the

Gurkha The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with endonym Gorkhali ), are soldiers native to the Indian subcontinent, Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India. The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Indian Go ...

s ('birds' and 'monkeys' respectively).Stein, R. A. (1972) ''Tibetan Civilization'', p. 269. Stanford University Press. (cloth); (pbk) During the life of Khedrup Gyatso, wars over

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu a ...

weakened the lamas' power over the Tibetan Plateau and the First and

Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Sino War, the Second China War, the Arrow War, or the Anglo-French expedition to China, was a colonial war lasting from 1856 to 1860, which pitted the British Empire#Britain's imperial ...

s as well as the

Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It last ...

simultaneously weakened Qing Empire's influence on Tibet. In the last years of his reign the Nepalese invaded Tibet, but were defeated in the Nepalese-Tibetan War (1855–1856). He died suddenly in the Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet, on 31 January 1856.

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