Tawang

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Tawang is a town situated at an elevation of approximately 3,048 metres (10,000 ft) to the east of Bhutan. The area is administered by the Republic of India as a part of the Arunachal Pradesh state, however, it is claimed by People's Republic of China as a part of South Tibet, under Tsona Dzong of Shannan, Tibet.The town once served as the district headquarters of West Kameng district, and became the district headquarters of Tawang district when it was formed from West Kameng. In April 2017, China announced additional 6 official names for 6 places in the South Tibet region, one being inside Tawang.

Tawang town is located approximately 555 kilometres (345 mi) from Guwahati and 320 kilometres (200 mi) from Tezpur. Tawang has an average elevation of 2,669 metres (8,757 ft).

The climate is warm and temperate in Tawang. In winter, there is much less rainfall in Tawang than in summer. According to Köppen and Geiger, this climate is classified as Cwb. The average temperature in Tawang is 10.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 915 mm.

The 8m tall statue of the Shakyamuni Buddha in the Tawang Monastery Tawang Monastery was founded by the Mera Lama Lodre Gyatso in accordance to the wishes of the 5th Dalai Lama, Nagwang Lobsang Gyatso. It belongs to the Gelugpa sect and is the largest Buddhist monastery in India. The name Tawang

When the 14th Dalai Lama fled from Tibet to escape from Chinese army, he crossed into India on 30 March 1959 and spent some days at the Tawang Monastery before reaching Tezpur in Assam on 18 April.[18] Prior to 1959, the Dalai Lama refused to recognize India's sovereignty over South Tibet of China including Tawang. In 2003, the Dalai Lama said that "Arunachal Pradesh was actually part of Tibet". In January 2007, he said that in 1914, both the Tibetan government and Britain recognized the McMahon Line

In 2008, he said that "Arunchal Pradesh was a part of India under the agreement signed by Tibetan and British representatives".[19] The Dalai Lama visited Tawang on 8 November 2009. About 30,000 people, including those from neighbouring Nepal and Bhutan, attended his religious discourse.

Climate

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The climate is warm and temperate in Tawang. According to Köppen and Geiger, this climate is classified as Cwb. The average temperature in Tawang is 10.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 915 mm.

History

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Tawang was historically part of Tibet inhabited by the Monpa people. The Tawang Monastery was founded by the Merak Lama Lodre Gyatso in 1681 in accordance with the wishes of the 5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, and has an interesting legend surrounding its name, which means "Chosen by Horse". The sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, was born in Tawang.

The 1914 Simla Accord defined the McMahon Line as the new boundary between British India and Tibet. By this treaty Tibet relinquished several hundred square miles of its territory, including Tawang, to the British, but it was not recognised by China.[6] According to Tsering Shakya, the British records show that the border agreed in 1914 was conditional upon China accepting the Simla Convention.

Since the British were unable get China's acceptance, the Tibetans regarded the MacMahon line "invalid".[6] According to Jia Liang, the British did not take possession of Tawang, which continued to be administered by Tibet. When the British botanist Frank Kingdon-Ward crossed the Sela Pass and entered Tawang in 1935 without permission from Tibet, he was briefly arrested.

The Tibetan government lodged a formal complaint against Britain.[7] This drew the attention of the British, who re-examined the Indo-Tibetan border and rediscovered that Tibet had ceded Tawang to British India, and attempted to revive the McMahon Line, in November, the British government demanded Tibet to implement the 1914 Simla Accord, this met with rejection from the Tibetan government which rejected the validity of the McMahon Line.[7] Tibet refused to surrender Tawang, partly because of the importance attached to the Tawang Monastery. In 1938 the British made a cautious move to assert sovereignty over Tawang by sending a small military column under Capt. G.S. Lightfoot to Tawang.

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