Shedup Choephelling Buddhist Temple

A Buddhist stupa (chorten) is standing outside the Shedup Choephelling Buddhist Temple in Happy Valley, Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, India, on April 18, 2024. The Shedup Choepelling Temple, sometimes referred to as the Tibetan Buddhist Temple, is being dedicated by the 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso), making it the first Tibetan shrine constructed in India. In 1959, when His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama is escaping from Lhasa in Tibet and taking refuge in India, he is staying in Happy Valley, Mussoorie for one year before shifting to Dharmashala in Himachal Pradesh due to security concerns. However, a large Tibetan population is staying back and continuing to flourish in Happy Valley. Happy Valley is home to 5000 Tibetan refugees who are escaping Chinese rule in 1959. The Tibetan community in Mussoorie is later converting the place where the 14th Dalai Lama resided into the Shedup Choephelling Buddhist Temple.