His Holiness the Dalai Lama Gets Ceremonial Welcome at TawangSunday, 8 November 2009, 12:24 p.m.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama (center) gestures on his arrival at Tawang monastery in the northwestern corner of Arunachal Pradesh state on 8 November 2009. Arunchal Pradesh state Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu is seen on the left/AFP/Getty Images/Diptendu Dutta/India

Dharamshala:
Thousands of people in the Buddhist town of Tawang accorded ceremonial
welcome to His Holiness the Dalai Lama as he arrived Sunday morning for
a week-long visit to the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.His
Holiness the Dalai Lama arrived by helicopter at Tawang, perched at an
elevation of approximately 3,048 meters (10,000 feet) in the
northwestern part of Arunachal Pradesh. His Holiness was received at the helipad by State Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and other ministers.Sound of gongs and cymbals resonate as His Holiness the Dalai Lama arrived at Tawang, Indo-Asian News Service reported.His
Holiness the Dalai Lama greeted the devotees, who were dressed in
traditional costumes and had lined on both sides of the eight-kilometre
road leading from the helipad to the Tawang monastery.At
the 400-year-old monastery, about 800 monks gave His Holiness the Dalai
Lama a religious welcome amid chants of Buddhist hymns as a strong
aroma of burning incense wafted through the air.Giant
gongs were played by monks dressed in new robes, while priests of the
monastery prostrated as His Holiness the Dalai Lama alighted from the
vehicle.Indian and Tibetan prayer flags fluttered alongside,
while banners and life-size posters of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
adorned the streets and rooftops with the entire Tawang town of about
35,000 people wearing a festive look.”It made us very happy to
catch a glimpse of him. Nobody is more important to us than him. The
Dalai Lama is our god,” Ms. Karmayacha, who uses one name and travelled
with her family from a village 20 miles (32 kilometers) away, was
quoted by the Associated Press.Hundreds of devotees from Nepal and Bhutan have also converged for His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit.

Joyous Buddhist devotees line up along the road as they wait for their spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, India, 8 November 2009/AP

His
Holiness the Dalai Lama will give religious discourse at Tawang, Dirang
and Bomdila during the week-long visit, which ends 15 November.His
Holiness will inaugurate a museum, containing historic scriptures of
the Buddhist religion, and unveil a library of the monastery school at
the Centre for Buddhist Culture Studies. His Holiness will also inaugurate a super-speciality hospital at Tawang.