The Dalai Lama brushed off Chinese protests and traveled Sunday to this remote Himalayan town near the Tibetan border to lead five days of prayer and teaching sessions for Buddhist pilgrims.
Thousands of poor villagers braved freezing temperatures and icy winds for a rare chance to glimpse the Tibetan spiritual leader.
Monks clanged cymbals and sounded traditional Tibetan horns to greet the Dalai Lama as he arrived at the Tawang monastery from a nearby helipad.
The Dalai Lama smiled and chatted with the gathered crowds. One monk shaded him with a giant yellow silk umbrella, while scores of others bowed before him as he walked into a hall to lead a prayer session.
The trip to Tawang, which has strong ties to Tibet and lies at the heart of a border dispute between India and China, angered Beijing and further heightened already raised tensions between the two nations.
Tawang is close to the border with Tibet and is home to the Monpa tribe, who have strong ties to Lhasa. The sixth Dalai Lama came from the region in the 17th century and China fears the current Dalai Lama will say his successor could also come from the region, removing China's role in choosing Tibet's next spiritual leader.
At the same time, India's decision to let the Dalai Lama visit Tawang — just weeks after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Arunachal Pradesh — is another declaration of its sovereignty over the disputed border area.
For his part, the Dalai Lama, who fled to India from Chinese-ruled Tibet 50 years ago, no longer appears concerned about angering China since negotiations over his Himalayan homeland have gone nowhere, Raghavan said.
"The Dalai Lama really has nothing to lose," he said. "The key thing is for him to be able to preserve Tibetan religion and culture."
