Guwahati: The Dalai Lama arrived in Assam on Saturday ahead of a visit to neighboring Arunachal Pradesh.
The Dalai Lama visits Arunachal between April 4 and 13.
The Tibetan spiritual leader's trip is expected to fuel tensions between India and China over strategic issues such as China's growing ties with India's arch-rival Pakistan. China claims the region in the eastern Himalayas as "South Tibet".
The Dalai Lama told Reuters TV at the airport in the Assam city of Guwahati that his visit was to promote religious harmony.
He said he was happy to be back in a region that revived his memories of escape from Tibet in 1959, after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
"I still feel the feeling of that time," he said.
China, which considers the Dalai Lama a dangerous separatist, said on Friday it was "resolutely opposed" to the visit, and urged India to "avoid taking any actions that would further complicate the border issue".
In its second warning to India in a month, the Chinese foreign ministry had said it was seriously concerned about India's decision to allow the Dalai Lama to visit Arunachal Pradesh.
India rejects China objection
China should refrain from meddling in the internal affairs of India, union minister Kiren Rijiju said on Saturday.
"We are not interfering in the internal matters of China and that country should not interfere into ours'," the minister of state for home affairs told reporters here.
He said, the visit of the Dalai Lama was as per the wish of the people.