Adhe Tapontsang, popularly known as Ama (mother) Adhe – a former Tibetan political prisoner – died at her home in Mcleod Ganj, Dharamshala on August 3. She was 88. Ama Adhe survived 27 years of forced labour, imprisonment and torture for fighting against the Chinese invasion of Tibet in the 1950s.
Ama Adhe was born in 1932 in Nyarong in the Kham region of Tibet. She recalled in interviews that she was a devout Buddhist from a young age. As a young adult during the invasion of Tibet, she inspired fellow Tibetan women to help the Tibetan men who were fighting the Chinese by supplying them with food and provisions. Their rebellion was suppressed and the women were left to face starvation, many were arrested. Some of those who had led the protest, including Ama Adhe, were taken to Changshita prison. Of over 300 people, only four survived the ordeal of starvation. In 1954, Ama Adhe’s husband was killed by the Chinese authorities leaving her pregnant, and with a one year old child to support.
In 1958, she was arrested for her continued protest against Chinese rule and she spent the next 27 years in prison, becoming one of the longest serving Tibetan political prisoners. Tibet.net, the official website of the Central Tibetan Administration, reports that she was released from prison in 1985 and escaped to India in 1987.
During her life in India, she continued sharing her stories and never ceased her efforts to raise awareness of the issue of Tibet. She was known worldwide as the symbol of Tibetan resistance, courage and patriotism.
Her biography, Ama Adhe: The Voice that Remembers: The Heroic Story of a Woman’s Fight to Free Tibet, was published in 1991 and narrates the story of her harrowing experiences in prison.
In Dharamshala, Tibetan activist groups including Student for Free Tibet (SFT) and the Tibetan Women’s Association (TWA) led a candlelit vigil for her, in remembrance of her legacy and her role in the Tibetan struggle.
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