As the descendent of the great dharma king Songtsen Gampo, who ruled Tibet in the 7th Century and a former member of the Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies, Lha Gyari had an illustrious past.
Born in 1927, he started serving the Tibetan government at an early age. In 1956, he was appointed as the chief representative of the Lhasa Administration in the southern region of Tibet. Later on, he became an active member of the Finance Committee of the “Tibet Autonomous Region’s” Political and Financial office.
However on 21 March, 1959, after the uprising of the Tibetans against the Chinese occupation, Lha Gyari Namgyal Gyatso was arrested by the Chinese along with hundreds of other Tibetans. He served twenty years imprisonment, undergoing immense suffering and hardship under a strict prison regime. He was released on 1 October, 1979 and was subsequently employed in the TAR Consultative Conference.
In 1982, Lha Gyari came to India to seek blessings from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After meeting with His Holiness, Lha Gyari decided to stay behind to serve the Tibetan community in exile. In 1983, His Holiness the Dalai Lama appointed him as a member of the 8th Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies. He continued on the same position for two more terms.
After retiring from the public life, he settled in Dekyiling Tibetan settlement near Dehradun. During that time he started working on his biography which was completed in 1999. The book is written in Tibetan.
The Central Tibetan Administration pays respect to the departed soul and offers condolences to the bereaved family.
