The Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (CIHTS; ), formerly called Central University for Tibetan Studies (CUTS), is a Deemed University founded in Sarnath, Varanasi, India, in 1967, as an autonomous organisation under Union Ministry of Culture. The CIHTS was founded by Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru in consultation with Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, with the aim of educating Tibetan youths in exile and Himalayan border students as well as with the aim of retranslating lost Indo-Buddhist Sanskrit texts that now existed only in Tibetan, into Sanskrit, to Hindi, and other modern Indian languages .
Background
Invasion of Tibet
Once Kuomintang forces were defeated or expelled to Taiwan, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) turned its attention on Chinese territories in the hinterlands, particularly Tibet. Prior to the PRC's establishment, the historical borderland between culturally Chinese and Tibetans, known as Kham, fell partly under the jurisdiction of Sikang Province under the Republic of China, but its western half, known as Chamdo, was occupied and controlled by Tibetan authorities from Lhasa. After months of failed negotiations, the PLA invaded the de facto Tibetan state in Chamdo, and the region fell to Chinese occupation in just a few weeks. Subsequent negotiations resulted in the official annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China. Tibet agreed to the new Seventeen Point Agreement because it allowed for the continuation of an autonomous administration led by Tibet's spiritual and then-political leader, the 14th Dalai Lama. The PLA campaign was a tremendous success in capturing the Tibetan army occupying Chamdo, demoralizing the government in Lhasa, and exerting pressure to force Tibetan representatives to agree to negotiations in Beijing which would ultimately lead to terms recognizing China's sovereignty over Tibet.
Sino-Indian Border Conflict
Relations between India and Communist China quickly deteriorated in the 1950s as the PRC rushed to secure a southern border which would provide adequate security in the Himalayan frontier. The border dispute between the two countries was further fueled by the situation in Tibet. In 1959, an uprising broke out in Lhasa because Tibetan protestors feared China might arrest the Dalai Lama. The initially peaceful protest was brutally ended by the PLA, and the Dalai Lama fled to India, established the Central Tibetan Administration, and rescinded its acceptance of the Seventeen Point Agreement. India granting the Dalai Lama asylum led to border skirmishes with China, and all diplomatic settlements proposed by the PRC were rejected by India until in 1962, abandoning attempts for peaceful resolution, China invaded disputed territory. The Sino-Indian War ended 1 month later when China declared a ceasefire and withdrew to its “Line of Actual Control.” Clashes between Indian and PLA forces erupt again in 1967, suggesting Sino-Indian relations had not improved in the immediate years following the war.
Tibetology
The uprising in 1959 sparked a wave of mass emigration to India by tens-of-thousands of Tibetans who feared persecution by the People's Liberation Army. This significant Tibetan diaspora, under the shared governance of the Dalai Lama's Central Tibetan Administration and the Indian government, sought to maintain its native culture and heritage. A foremost concern of the displaced population was the migration of the younger generations from their historic homeland. Many feared exile implied marginalization, potentially endangering nationalism and, subsequently, future prospects of reestablishing a Tibetan government in Tibet. To combat this growing concern, a conference was organized wherein spiritual leaders from the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, overseen by the Dalai Lama, discussed the preservation of the culture and spiritual heritage of Tibet, as well as reviving Buddhist teachings within the exiled community in India. The field of Tibetology was established and refers to the study of all things related to Tibet through an interdisciplinary approach utilizing facets of history, religion, language, culture, and politics.