The Dalai Lama said religious "duty" compelled him to make his visit to a Buddhist region near India's disputed Himalayan border with Tibet that has infuriated China.

In an interview broadcast on India's Times Now news channel on Wednesday, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader regretted that his trip to the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which has stoked tensions between New Delhi and Beijing, had been over-politicised.

"This trip actually is usual, but this time it is too much politicised," he said in Tawang, site of the second largest Tibetan monastery in India.

"It is sad. I am a Buddhist monk. All my conduct is basically non-political. It is my duty to come and explain and teach Buddhism," he said.

Since arriving in Tawang on Sunday, the Dalai Lama has drawn daily crowds numbering in the tens of thousands for a series of mass religious teachings.

China, which claims most of Arunachal Pradesh as its own territory, has condemned the visit as an attempt by the Dalai Lama to destabilise Indo-Chinese ties.

On Tuesday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman in Beijing said the Dalai Lama's presence in Arunachal "fully exposed" his "anti-Chinese nature".

China has long accused the Dalai Lama of seeking to split up China by campaigning for an independent Tibet -- a charge he denies.

The Indian government has said that the Nobel laureate, who has lived in exile in the country for 50 years, is free to travel where he wishes.

Arunachal was the Dalai Lama's point of entry into India when he fled Tibet in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule, and he recalled the time he spent recuperating in Tawang monastery from the gruelling journey.

"I was physically weak from dysentery," he said, remembering an overwhelming sense of "hopelessness" at being forced to leave his homeland.

"The sort of physical and mental level was very difficult but local people and officials extended a very, very warm welcome."

SEARCH