Emma Martin writes:
In 1913, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet dispatched a lavish diplomatic gift to the viceroy of India. His message was clear. The Dalai Lama expected the viceroy and his Simla convention delegation to support the Tibetans in their quest for independence and international recognition of their right to self-rule.
However, upon its arrival the colonial administration received it with marked disregard and its subsequent fate remains unknown.
- What was offered by the Indians as nazar and peshkash was never kept by the official to whom it was given. Rather, valuations and minute listings were made of the objects presented, which were ultimately deposited in the Toshakhana, a special government treasury for the receipt and disbursement of presents. Unlike the Indians, the British recycled presents which they received, either directly, by giving one Indian what had been received from another, or indirectly, by selling at auction in Calcutta what they received and then using the funds realized to buy objects to be given as presents.
The lama’s gift and the British reaction to it brings into view the British Toshakhana in colonial India, an office within the foreign department in Calcutta responsible for managing, appraising, and discreetly selling off diplomatic gifts without the giver knowing.
This article challenges readings of diplomatic gift-giving as an opportunity to reflect on moments of (albeit unequal) transcultural encounter and material exchange and instead argues that the colonial administration fostered a gifting culture of indifference.
The study of the Toshakhana’s methods of dispersal not only sheds light on the complex networks that enabled diplomatic gifts to disappear without a trace, but also provides new insights into the widespread absence of provenance information for South Asian and Tibetan artefacts held in European and South Asian museum collections today.
