'Prostrating monk' reaches Bihar

Kolkata: Crowds have been lining the route of a Buddhist monk who has been prostrating himself on a year-and-a-half-long pilgrimage from Tibet to India, witnesses and religious leaders said yesterday.

Gyaltsen Lama, who is in his twenties, entered the eastern Indian state of Bihar this month and told Buddhist leaders and police he was going to end his journey at Bodh Gaya, where Buddha attained enlightenment.

"He is just 22 days away from completing his extraordinary journey," said Bhikkhu Bodhipala, chief priest of the Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya, a place of pilgrimage for Buddhists from all over the world. "He is very tired."

Clad in a saffron robe, Gyaltsen, who left Tibet in July 2005, lies on the ground extending his hands, utters a hymn and gets up to prostrate himself again at the point where his hands had extended to. This way he covers 7km daily.