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Tibetans Children's Village

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image by Corentin Chamboredon, 8 April 2007

Tibetan Children's Village School Flag
Khamtsen (Houses) Flags

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Tibet

Tibetan Children's Village School Flag

This institution has been founded and directed in 1960 by Tsering Dolma Takla then Jetsun Pema, respectively the elder and younger sisters of the Dalai Lama, to look after Tibetan exiled children. The flag has a dark green field and a yellow border. In the center, we can see the logo of the village, which shows green children (a girl and a boy) wearing chubas (the traditional Tibetan clothes) and walking toward a device I can't identify. I think it may be a stylised Buddhist emblem but which one? Though, there are Tibetan words above the logo, and below it two lines in English. First, "Others Before Self" then "Tibetan Children Village's School".
Sources:
http://www.tcv.org.in/index.shtml
http://www.worldbridges.com/Tibet/photos/tcv40/index.html
Corentin Chamboredon, 8 April 2007

Images of flag (1) and (2)

Khamtsen (Houses) Flags

I found detailed representation of the flags of four other khamtsen (Houses) of the Tibetan Children's Village. The flags are not the same according to the event but the names of the khamtsen are. Besides the Nyatri khamtsen, there are: Triral (Tibetan: ཁྲི་རལ་ཁང་ཚན་། - Wylie: khri ral), Trisong (Tibetan: ཁྲི་སྲོང་ཁང་ཚན་། - Wylie: khri srong), and Songtsen (Tibetan: སྲོང་བཙན་ཁང་ཚན་། - Wylie: srong btsan).
These names probably refer to Tibetan emperors: Nyatri Tsenpo (legendary first emperor), Trisong Detsen (755-797), Ralpachen (815-836) and Songtsen Gampo (618-649).
Photos and videos were taken during the 53rd anniversary of the TCV last year in Dharamsala (India) show two variations of the flags. There are big ones hanged to a fence (such as the one shown above), next to the Tibetan flag, and there are smaller flags displayed by the parading children. There are some differences between the big flags and the small ones : the big flags show the name of the khamtsen in curved Tibetan script and they have a white border. The small flags also show the name, but written vertically on the sides of the main emblem. They also have borders of different colors : pink for Nyatri, light green for Triral, light blue for Trisong and orange for Songtsen.
Sources: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhRz3mlCKUI, this image and this image.
Another video was taken during the 37the anniversary ot the TV in Ladakh (India), but the flags are different.
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZypH58t-XU
Corentin Chamboredon, 06 March 2014

Note: The khamtsen may be correct to some local pronunciations and I found it used by one author, but the khangtsen is more accurate according to the Tibetan orthograph.
Corentin Chamboredon, 06 September 2014

Nyatri Khamtsen Flags

images by Corentin Chamboredon, 07 April 2014

Here is a second flag used during the 40th anniversary of the Tibetan Children's Village. I don't know what it is. It has a red field and a white border. There is a snow lion looking backward in the center and white Tibetan script above.
Concerning the snow lion, it may rather be a snow lioness. Traditionally the milk of the snow lioness (Tibetan: Gangs Sengemo) contains special nutrients to heal the body and restore it to harmony. This milk is said to be so sacred that if you want to collect some, you have to use a golden cup or a bucket made of jewels. We can see on the flag the animal wears something like a red necklace with yellow devices on it and a pendant, which is its traditional representation as you can see here. Its healing meaning is clearly in relation with the missions of the Tibetan Children's Village.
Source: www.worldbridges.com.
Corentin Chamboredon, 5 May 2007

It reads "gahazha khri khanga tshana." in Wylie transliteration: "གཧཞ་ཁིྲ་ཁང་ཚན།". I have no idea about the meaning, though.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 10 May 2007

I took some time to search what this inscription meant. In roman script, it would be rendered as "Nyatri khamtsen" (ganya' khri khang tshan in Wylie transliteration). A khamtsen is an administrative sub-unit gathering people coming from the same area, usually found in big monasteries but I guess it is also used for the pupils' houses of the Tibetan children's villages. This flag therefore belongs to or represents the Nyatri house of a school maintained by the TCV. There is also a Polish association named Nyatri which subsidizes houses for the children's villages. The correct Tibetan orthograph is: གཉའ་ཁྲི་ཁང་ཚན་།
Corentin Chamboredon, 12 August 2011

image by Corentin Chamboredon, 07 April 2014

Another video shows a different flag: Nyatri has a red flag with an eight-spoked wheel, without text.
Corentin Chamboredon, 06 March 2014

Triral Khamtsen Flags

images by Corentin Chamboredon, 07 April 2014

The Triral flag has a green field and shows an eight-spoked wheel, the spaces between the spokes being colored, clockwise and beginning from noon : orange, blue, red, green, orange, blue, red, green. There are several golden rings with red circles around the rim : one ring for the cardinal directions, three rings for the ordinal directions. The center of the wheel has apparently swirls of joy, but I can't see if there are three or four of them.
Corentin Chamboredon, 06 March 2014

image by Corentin Chamboredon, 07 April 2014

Another video shows a different flag: Triral has a blue flag with a double vajra and white text.
Corentin Chamboredon, 06 March 2014

Trisong Khamtsen Flags

images by Corentin Chamboredon, 07 April 2014

The Trisong flag has a blue field and shows a golden double-vajra.

image by Corentin Chamboredon, 07 April 2014

Another video shows a different flag: Trisong has a yellow flag with a flaming blue sword and black text.
Corentin Chamboredon, 06 March 2014

Songtsen Khamtsen Flags

images by Corentin Chamboredon, 07 April 2014

The Songtsen flag has a yellow field and shows a green endless knot (which is orange on the small flag).

image by Corentin Chamboredon, 07 April 2014

Another video shows a different flag: Songtsen has a white flag with a lotus flower and green text.
Corentin Chamboredon, 06 March 2014