Place · Tibetan settlement & plateau · India
Mainpat
The highest plateau in Surguja, and since 1962 and 1963 the home of Tibetan refugees settled under the Government of India's rehabilitation scheme after the occupation of Tibet. Seven camps are still working.
- Date
- 1962-1963
- Periods
- Republic and Living Practice
- Function
- Social reform & movement
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 22.815, 83.285 (approximate)
Worth knowing
The settlers live largely by weaving woollens and carpets, the trade that supports most of the Tibetan settlements in India. Mainpat is locally called the Shimla of Surguja, and the jaljali, a patch of ground that shakes underfoot, is among the sights.
About the place
The marker is the centre of the Mainpat plateau; the Tibetan camps are spread across it.
Connections (3)
- Companion in the same setDharamshala
Mainpat was settled with Tibetan refugees in 1962 and 1963 under the same Government of India rehabilitation scheme that made Dharamshala the exile capital. Seven camps still work on the plateau, living largely by weaving woollens.
- Companion in the same setHappy Valley, Mussoorie
Two of the earliest Tibetan settlements in India, one on a Himalayan ridge and one on a Chhattisgarh plateau. The scheme deliberately placed communities at altitude where it could, which is how a Tibetan weaving economy came to sit in Surguja.
- TransmissionTibet (Bod)
The plateau carries a Tibetan population, Tibetan weaving and Tibetan observance a thousand miles from Tibet, settled after 1959. It is the furthest south-east that the exile reached in any numbers.
Sources
Commissioner, Surguja Division (division-surguja.cg.gov.in), tourist-destination pages, 2026; coordinates supplied by the editor
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