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, the seventh Dalai Lama, had in 1708. In 1841, Palden Tenpai Nyima, 7th Panchen Lama, 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 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 ...

weakened the lamas' power over the Tibetan Plateau and the First and Second Opium Wars 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 laste ...

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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