Dalai Lama gets a royal welcome in Arunachal

Braving the winter chill, thousands of Tibetans and locals lined up along the roads leading to the Tawang monastery on Sunday and gave a rousing reception to the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who arrived in town on a four-day visit.

After his arrival by a helicopter from Guwahati, the 74-year-old Dalai Lama, accompanied by Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Kandu, was welcomed by cheering Tibetans as he drove along the 10-km stretch from the helipad to the 400-year-old Tawang monastery.

The Dalai Lama's cavalcade stopped at three places -- old market, Manjusree Vidyapeeth and new market -- as the spiritual leader blessed the people who greeted him.

Nestled in the snow-capped mountains and perched at a height of 10,000 feet, Tawang town wears a festive look with colourful posters with the Dalai Lama's pictures and Tibetan and Indian flags flying everywhere.

Buildings and houses have been given a fresh coat of paint and streets and localities cleaned to mark the occasion.

The Dalai Lama's cavalcade took more than 45 minutes to reach the Tawang monastery from the helipad.

The Tibetan spiritual leader, who is in town for the first time since 2003, inaugurated a museum inside the Tawang monastery. The museum named 'Gadenmamgyallhatsa' contains historic Buddhist scriptures.

Soon after the inauguration, Dalai Lama was taken in a procession from the entrance to duakkan that was attended by 700 Buddhist monks. Accompanied by Kandu and spiritual leader P G Rinpcohe, the Dalai Lama went into to the duakkan to offer prayers.

Tawang, the 400-year old and the second largest Tibetan monastery in India, holds personal history for the Dalai Lama.

When he fled Tibet in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule, he entered India through Arunachal Pradesh and took refuge in Tawang.

He has visited the town in 1983, 1997 and 2003. He paid two visits to the state in 2003 and during one of them he had skipped Tawang to visit the western side of the state dominated by the followers of the Mahayana sect of Buddhism.

Photograph: Reuters