Agvan Dorzhiev - British Suspicions

British Suspicions

By 1903, both Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, and Francis Younghusband became wrongly convinced that Russia and Tibet had signed secret treaties threatening the security of British interests in India and they suspected that Dorzhiev was working for the Russian government. Compounded by the closed nature of Tibet at the time, the fear of Russia drawing Tibet into the Great Game to control the routes across Asia was a reason for the British invasion of Tibet during 1903-4.

"Obviously," the Dalai Lama said, "the Thirteenth Dalai Lama had a keen desire to establish relations with Russia, and I also think he was a little skeptical toward England at first. Then there was Dorjiev. To the English he was a spy, but in reality he was a good scholar and a sincere Buddhist monk who had great devotion to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama."

In early 1904 Dorzhiev convinced the Dalai Lama to flee to Urga in Mongolia, some 2,500 km north of Lhasa, where the Dalai Lama spent over a year giving teachings to the Mongolians.

During the invasion there were rumours that Dorzhiev was in charge of the arsenal at Lhasa and directing military operations from the Gyantse Dzong (fort). British troops captured several Russian-made Berdan rifles at Nagartse Dzong and breechloaders at Chumik Shenko, which heightened their suspicions of Russian involvement. These were never substantiated and there is no evidence that Dorzhiev was ever a Tsarist spy, although he had previously acted as a roving ambassador for the Dalai Lama in Russia, trying to gain support in the upper levels of Russian society.

During the summer of 1912, he met the 13th Dalai Lama at Phari Dzong and then accompanied him to the Samding Monastery, before returning to Lhasa after his exile in India.