The 11th Dalai Lama - Khedrup Gyatso

Khedrup Gyatso (1 November 1838 – 31 January 1856) was selected as the 11th Dalai Lama in 1840. Born in the same village as the seventh Dalai Lama, he was given the the pre-novice ordination by the 7th Lama himself and the Lama also cut his hair and named him Khedrup Gyatso. His enthronement took place in the Potala Palace in 1842 and four years later, Seventh Panchen Lama gave him the novice vows of monkhood when he was only eleven.

After his enthronement on 25 May 1842, Khedrup Gyatso gained full power of the government on 1 March 1855. However, on 31 January 1856, he died in the Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet, leaving himself to be among the third Dalai Lama who died too young to fully achieve his power. During this period from the Ninth to the Twelfth Lama, who were all died young, the Panchen took their power to rule the government.

Though young, he wrote a book of stanzas, Story of the Monkeys and Birds (Bya sprel gyi gtam-rgyud), which is also an allegory about the war between the Tibetans and the Gurkhas in the late 18th century.

At his time, the influence of China was reduced due to the wars, including the at the end of the 18th century between the Tibetans and the Gurkhas. Another war, the war over Ladakh, weakened the lamas' power in the region. All those wars made the successive Dalai Lama more firmly to keep Tibet from become a western colony, as they thought it would weaken the influence of Tibetan culture as well as lamas' power.