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 Tibet
House was established in 1965 by His Holiness
the Dalai Lama for the purpose of preserving the
unique cultural heritage of Tibet at a time when it
faced extinction in its homeland, as well as for providing
a centre for Tibetan and Buddhist studies. Tibet House
was the first of its kind in the world and now, about
three decades after its inception, is recognized as
a significant manifestation of its original purpose.
Museum
This is one of the two major physical assets of the
Tibet house along with the library. It serves the
invaluable role of preserving and conserving a variety
of old and rare art objects of Tibet including over
2000 thangka paintings, about two hundred
gilded bronze, copper, brass, black stone and sandalwood
statues as well as other religious artifacts,
ritual implements and objects of war and  household
use and jewellery. The Museum holds special exhibitions,
which have attracted international interest and recognition
as well as requests for loans from foreign museums.
The museum also serves as a sanctuary for an important
heritage of humankind. As Tibetan antiques and artifacts
fetch high prices in the international market, it
has been a distressing fact that smuggling of theses
objects has been on the rise. It assumes even more
importance, in light of this fact, that the Museum
collects and houses articles, which otherwise, would
disappear into private collections.
Library
 The
library has a sizeable collection of important books
and manuscripts. At the end of 1994 there were well
over 1500 books in English and over 3000 in Tibetan
in addition to the 233 volumes of the Kagyur and Tengyur.
Plans are underway to enhance the existing collection
to meet the needs of the increasing numbers of scholars
and researchers using the library. In addition, the
Library intends to properly catalogue all Tibetan
books- prepare a bibliography on specific subjects
and provide the facilities for photocopying and microfilm
reading. There are also plans to add an audio and
videocassette section.
Research and Publications
Tibet House has published a number of important texts
on religion, philosophy, history and other aspects
of Tibetan culture. The Encyclopedia Tibetica Vols
1- 137 is the most voluminous Tibetan publication
and an English publication entitled 'The Sambhota
Series' has been initiated. The purpose is to
undertake systematic research projects in selected
aspects of Buddhist and Tibetan studies. Translation
of Manuscripts is another area of activity. 'The Tibet
House Bulletin' is a biannually that reaches to friends
all over the world. Lectures, reports on conferences,
seminars and religious discourses have been transcribed
and published at various times by Tibet House. Tibet
House brings out occasional publications, books, booklets
and pamphlets discussing or detailing different aspects
of Tibetan culture regularly.
Programme coordination
This department, established in 1985, fulfills the
essential task of translating the aims of Tibet House
into attractive action in the form of films, music
and dance concerts, lectures, seminars, discussions
and national and international conferences which
are attended by scholars and lay persons from India
and abroad. Indian and Tibetan Buddhist history, religion
and philosophy, culture, art and literature form the
main themes of these programmes. Tibet House often
works in collaboration with other organizations in
programme coordination.
Till now Tibet House has subsisted on kind, but meagre
grants from the government of India, for specific
projects. There is no recurring income and the institution
has managed to survive somehow on small donations
of well-wishers.
Tibet House with its crucial location in the capital
of the land that was the cradle of Buddhist civilization
for so many centuries deserves not only to survive,
but also to expand in its role as custodian and disseminator
of Tibetan and Buddhist studies.
- Jyoti Narang
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