Outside the Buddhist temple in the Dalai Lama's compound, however, monks gathered from all over the world are humming a different, deep-throated prayer for President Hu and the Chinese leadership.

A retired school teacher from Manhattan with a Jewish name explains its meaning: 'Peace to the souls of the leadership and the army for they may suffer yet for their sins in Tibet.'

As unrest continues at the roof of the world, the divergent attitudes towards the Chinese leadership underscore the divide in Tibetan ranks between the hotheads who seek violence to push China out and the Dalai Lama's peaceable 'middle path' that asks for greater autonomy, but from within China.

If the current mood among the exiles is any indication, His Holiness' message of peace and tolerance is wearing thin amid the deep frustration of facing an implacable Chinese leadership with the power and will to impose its writ on Tibet.

A monk doing a doctoral thesis in Hong Kong on religion and logic sums up the situation as he watches a candlelight rally in the main square of the town, where Tibet's spiritual leader has his government in exile.

'When I take a pen to paper I know where I am going,' says the red-robed Rinchin Ginde, who travelled to Dharamsala with four Chinese friends.

'But I look at these people and wonder - aren't they just going around in circles?'

Five decades after the 14th Dalai Lama fled his homeland as a 22-year-old monk, the world's 130,000 Tibetan refugees see no closure to the issues that prevent them from returning to their native land.

The Internet, satellite television and gadgets like Skype give them greater access to news from inside Tibet. Yet, many of them have got their Tibetan identities diluted, a result of being born outside their homeland, migration to better lives in the West and the unwavering hold of the Chinese authorities.

'When I was in school, my interest was really in Africa's plight although there was a small Tibetan movement in Bloomington,' says 22-year-old Pema Jane, a graduate from the University of Indiana whose father was of Tibetan stock.

'I didn't really catch on to the Tibetan issue till I took a year off and came down here and started work with the Students For Free Tibet.'

While India has so far been uncomplaining of the prolonged Tibetan presence on its soil, New Delhi, which is building ties with Beijing steadily, does not push the envelope on Tibet with China.

Earlier this month, Tibetan demonstrators who tried to march towards the China border came in for rough handling by the authorities. Many were jailed.

Western leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel have been more aggressive in their support.

Last year, when the United States Congress bestowed its highest honour - the Medal of Freedom - on the Dalai Lama, President George W. Bush stopped by for the ceremony. Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on His Holiness at Dharamsala.

Indeed, much of the Tibetan movement is sustained by Westerners sympathetic to the cause and attracted by the personal charisma of the Dalai Lama and his message.

The violence in Lhasa, which had overtones of the underdog taking on a vastly superior force, has added fuel to the fire, even as His Holiness continues to be deeply revered.

'When I read about this week's events in Lhasa I pulled on my Israeli military pants,' says 67-year-old Jane Perkins, author of the book Tibet In Exile, who has made Dharamsala her home for 21 years.

'I said 'this is war'!'

Closer home, there are many in his flock who think the Dalai Lama's stress on non-violent methods to achieve Tibetan autonomy is simply not working.

The Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), one of five groups that planned the march to China, thinks only a more aggressive approach will pay.

'China has no intention to grant Tibet autonomy,' says TYC general secretary Thundup Lhadhar. 'But we believe one day we will gain independence. But even if China is the most powerful country in the world, our struggle is not belittled.'

With the Olympics approaching, groups such as the TYC see a unique opportunity to embarrass Beijing and highlight the Tibetan issue before the world.

'His Holiness unfortunately has taken too great an internationalist stance,' says writer Jamyang Norbu, a Dalai Lama critic based in Tennessee, United States.

Many Indian Buddhist groups who flocked to Dharamsala from across the country held pictures of Mahatma Gandhi in one hand and of the Dalai Lama in the other.

Some saw more than a little irony in this.

'It is just like the Mahatma in his last days, when people paid him lip service, but ignored his teachings and his message,' says a senior Indian official.

No one is more aware than His Holiness that he risks being irrelevant.

'I cannot stop these people, only warn them of the consequences,' the 73-year-old monk said last week.

'I may have some small regrets - such as my throat hurting from talking too much - but I have no regrets about the bigger decisions.

'Everything I have done, I feel was the correct thing to do.'

velloor@sph.com.sg