Kashag

The Kashag (Tibetan: བཀའ་ཤག་, Wylie: bkaʼ-shag, ZYPY: Gaxag, Lhasa dialect IPA: ]; Chinese: 噶廈; pinyin: gá shà) was the governing council of Tibet during Qing Dynasty and Republic of China (1912–1949). It was set by Qianlong Emperor in 1751. In that year the Tibetan government was reorganized after the riots in Lhasa of the previous year. The civil administration was represented by Council (Kashag) after the 7th Dalai Lama abolished the post of Desi (or Regent; see: dual system of government), in whom too much power had been placed.

The Council administrated matters of private and national interests. It was constituted of three temporal officials and one monk official. Each of them held the title of Kalön (Tibetan: བཀའ་བློན་, Wylie: bkaʼ-blon, Lhasa dialect IPA: ; Chinese: 噶倫; pinyin: gálún).

The function of the Council was to express opinions about matters or problems concerning the civil administration of the country and to present these opinions to the office of the first minister. The first minister then presented these opinions to the Dalai Lama and, during the Qing Dynasty the Amban, for a final decision. The privilege of presenting recommendations for appointing executive officials, governors and district commissioners gave the Council a lot of power.