Dalai Lama’s brother, architect of talks with China, dies at 97

Gyalo Thondup began discussions between Dharamsala and Beijing in 1979, in a departure from his earlier approach of armed struggle

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Gyalo Thondup, the Dalai Lama’s elder brother, is seen in Dharamsala in this undated file photograph. Thondup died at his home in India on Saturday evening. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:47am, 10 Feb 2025Updated: 4:51pm, 10 Feb 2025

The elder brother of the Dalai Lama and former chairman of the Tibetan government-in-exile in India, Gyalo Thondup, who led several rounds of talks with China and worked with foreign governments for the Tibetan cause, has died. He was 97.

Thondup died at his home in Kalimpong, a hill town in the Himalayan foothills of eastern West Bengal state, on Saturday evening, media reports said. No other details were immediately released about his death.

Tibetan media outlets credited Thondup for networking with foreign governments and praised his role in facilitating US support for the Tibetan struggle.

The Dalai Lama led a prayer session for Thondup at a monastery in Bylakuppe town in India’s southern state of Karnataka on Sunday where the spiritual leader is currently staying for the winter months.

He prayed for Thondup’s “swift rebirth”, in accordance with Buddhist traditions, and said “his efforts towards the Tibetan struggle were immense and we are grateful for his contribution”.

The Dalai Lama (centre) is seen supported by Buddhist monks at a public talk in Switzerland last year. The 89-year-old has said he has decades yet to live, but many Tibetans who have followed him abroad are bracing for an inevitable time without him. Photo: EPA-EFE

Thondup, one of six siblings of the Tibetan spiritual leader and the only brother not groomed for a religious life, made India his home in 1952 and helped develop early contacts with the Indian and US governments to seek support for Tibet. In 1957, Thondup helped recruit Tibetan fighters who were sent to US training camps in subsequent years, a report by the US-funded Radio Free Asia said.