DALAI LAMA on Monday cut short his stay in Bodh Gaya due to some health reasons. But many people believe that terror threat could have forced the Tibetan spiritual leader to leave the religious talk. Mumbai police had received the intelligence inputs that the leader could be harmed by some Chinese nationals and even the Bihar police had confirmed the arrest of two people on Saturday.

After a health examination, Lama will join a conference in Varanasi and then go for a one-month retreat at his home in Dharamsala, in Himachal Pradesh. Lama was in Bodh Gaya town of Bihar to attend the Kalachakra, a ten-day festival of Buddhists drawn from different parts of the world. The Kalachakra, which means "Wheel of Time," is one of the highest teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, involving four days of elaborate ritual, prayer and the construction of a sand mandala, a circular design symbolizing the universe.

A senior official of the Tibetan government in-exile told this correspondent that the Kalachakra Initiation held at the Bodh Gaya in Bihar this time drew an estimated 150,000 devotees, including 13,000 monks, from 100 countries. But that's just half what organizers had expected at the ten-day ceremony.

“The gathering passed off more smoothly than last year, when there was overcrowding and widespread illness, and the Dalai Lama had to cut short his appearance to be hospitalized because of a stomach ailment,” the official said. About 2,300 devotees came from Tibet, 1,000 more than last year, when China tightened travel restrictions ahead of the event.

Senior Tibetan monks in attendance included the Karmapa, who is the third highest-ranking Tibetan monk; Ling Rinpoche, the monk whom Tibetans believe is the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama's tutor; and the Ganden Tripa, the head of the Dalai Lama's sect. Like the Dalai Lama, all three monks live in exile in India.

Security was tightened ahead of this year's Kalachakra, after a group of disgruntled Indian Buddhist monks threatened to immolate themselves in protest against the Dalai Lama's presence. The monks were subsequently arrested. Four youths from Nepal and Tibet were also arrested for getting drunk.

It was the second straight year the All India Monks Federation had threatened trouble. The Federation, which is seeking to take control of the main temple at Bodh Gaya, has demanded the deportation of the Dalai Lama and the Karmapa, accusing the Tibetan government-in-exile of receiving about US$100 million in aid annually from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

The Dalai Lama donated 1 million rupees (US$21,000) for social welfare programs in the area where the ceremony was held. The Bodh Gaya complex is located in Bihar, one of India's poorest states.