Baha'is, Polish children and Tibetans

In the mid-1800s a new religion, the Baha'i faith, began in Persia (today's Iran), led by Baha'u'llah. He taught unity of all people and harmony between religions. But Iran's religious leaders branded the Baha'is heretics and treated them badly.

Some Baha'is looked for safer homes, and India was one of the first places they came, from the late 19th century. Over the years many Indians joined the faith; today most Baha'is in India are Indians who believe in its message of unity and love. Their famous Lotus Temple stands in New Delhi.

In Warsaw, Poland, there is a square called 'Good Maharaja Square', with a monument. Why? During the Second World War (1939–1945), Poland was invaded. Thousands of families were torn apart, and many children became orphans.

Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja, the Maharaja of Nawanagar (today's Jamnagar in Gujarat), was moved by their suffering. He brought in the Red Cross and other organisations to rescue the children, took them to Jamnagar, and gave them a safe home, food and care. He is credited with saving around a thousand Polish orphans between 1942 and 1946. In the early 21st century, the President of Poland honoured him and the monument was built.

In the 7th century, Tibet, the 'Land of Snows', became a centre of Buddhism when its king took up the Buddha's teachings. Later, in the 12th–13th centuries, when invasions destroyed Nālandā and other Buddhist centres in eastern India, many monks fled to Tibet carrying precious Sanskrit manuscripts. So Tibet once sheltered India's books.

From the 15th century, the Dalai Lamas — each believed to be the reincarnation of the one before — grew in importance, becoming spiritual heads and, from the mid-17th century, Tibet's rulers.

From 1950, the People's Republic of China took over Tibet in stages. In 1959, after an uprising in Lhasa, the 14th Dalai Lama fled across the Himalayas to India, which gave him asylum (protection). He has lived since then as an honoured guest in Dharamshala, where the Central Tibetan Administration works as a government-in-exile. His 'Four Commitments' are: promoting human values like compassion, forgiveness and tolerance; promoting religious harmony; preserving Tibetan culture; and reviving India's ancient values, especially karuṇā (compassion) and ahimsa (non-violence).

India resettled the Tibetan refugees, educated their children and helped create Tibetan settlements; many monasteries were rebuilt in Karnataka like the originals. The Tibetans brought their medicine, Sowa Rigpa ('Art of Healing'), written down in the 8th century near Lhasa, which blends Ayurveda with ideas from China, Central Asia, Persia and even Greece. It is now part of India's AYUSH programme. Tibet once sheltered India's manuscripts; centuries later, India sheltered Tibet's people.