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Article: Tibet's part in the 'great game.' (Agvan Dorjiev)
- Article from:
- History Today
- Article date:
- October 1, 1993
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1993 History Today Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Why did the visit of a Buddhist holy man to Lhasa at the turn of the century throw the British Foreign Office into a state of paranoia? Helen Hundley explores the life and times of Agvan Dorjiev and the part he played in the Asian rivalry of Britain and Russia.
This announcement of the activities of a |certain official', clipped in St Petersburg by the British Charge d'Affaires, Charles Hardinge, and sent to the Foreign Office in London, introduced the British to a citizen of the Russian empire, the Buriat lama, doctor of Buddhist theology, Agvan Dorjiev (1853 - 1938). In the summers of 1900 and 1901 Dorjiev led embassies from the Dalai Lama to Russia expressing ...