Join the History Society for a lecture on the history of the Dalai Lamas!

📅 Date: 4th December, 2025
🕒 Time: 17:00-19:00
📍 Location: NK11 (New King's)

Join the History Society for our upcoming lecture, Where did the Dalai Lamas come from?: The Emergence of the Institution of Incarnate Lineages in Tibetan Religious and Political History, presented by Professor Martin Mills.

The present Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, recently celebrated his 90th birthday, when he made international news by announcing his intentions for the future rebirth of a Fifteenth Dalai Lama. Up until the ‘Peaceful Liberation of Tibet’ by the People’s Republic of China in 1950, the Dalai Lamas were generally known to the world as the God-Kings of Tibet, ruling the vast Tibetan plateau from the majestic Potala Palace in Lhasa. But who were the Dalai Lamas, how did they come to rule Tibet, and what does ‘rule by reincarnation’ mean to Tibetans themselves?

Martin A. Mills is Chair of Anthropology at Aberdeen, Director of the Scottish Centre for Himalayan Research and previous Secretary of the Scottish Parliament’s Cross-Party Group on Tibet. He has carried out extensive fieldwork amongst Himalayan communities for nearly forty years, as well as research into the Dalai Lama’s exiled government in Dharamsala, North India. He is author of a wide variety of works on religious authority and organisation amongst Tibetan communities.

This event is free and open to both members and non-members – no tickets required! After the lecture there will be an informal chat session where you’ll have the chance to ask questions and continue the discussion.

We look forward to seeing you there!