Thakur Mangal Chand Rais and Wazir of Lahaul (1887 – 1969)
About the Founder
The Himalayan Buddhist Society Manali was founded in the year 1946 by Thakur Mangal Chand Rais and Wazir of Lahaul (1887 – 1969) with a vision to have universal peace and well-being of all sentient beings.He was also responsible for getting the land for the Gompa from the country’s first Prime Minister Pt Jawaharlal Nehru in 1960.
HThakur Mangal Chand was an enlightened and multi-faceted personality being an accomplished administrator, scholar, explorer, painter, photographer and an expert practitioner of Tibetan medicine. He was the Wazir of Lahoul ie ruler after his brother Rai Bahadur Amar Chand passed away and till his nephew Thakur Pratap Chand came of age. He was tutored at home by his father Thakur Hari Chand and was fluent in Tibetan, Urdu, English and Hindi. His knowledge of Tibetan culture and language was so good that when His Holiness Dalai Lama came to India in 1959, he became the first official interpreter to HH. He was also responsible for taking the first batch of Tibetans to their settlements in Karnataka in 1962 which today boast of magnificent gompas and lamaseries.
His knowledge of the Tibetan Medicine system ie Swa Rigpa was second to none and treated a large number of patients free of cost. His Thanka paintings adorn the President walls of Gemur Gompa in Lahaul even today. As an adventurer he had travelled all over Tibet including Mansarover , Kailash , Gartok and Taklakot as well as Yarkand .
He has been mentioned in several books including by Pandit Rahul Sanskritayan (Yatra ke Panne ), Nicholas Reorich(Shambala) , Tyacke R (In Quest of Game In Kullu ), AP Harcourt (Himalayan District of Kooloo Lahoul and Spiti) , GD Khosla (The Himalayan Circuit ) , Franke ( Antiquities of Western Tibet) and many others.
The Society ever indebted to him, constantly strives to serve the ideals of its Founder President Thakur Mangal Chand of Lahaul.