The Last Indian Soldier Who Helped Dalai Lama Escape Has Died

The Tibetan spiritual leader arrived in India as a young monk after a 13-day trek through the Himalayas disguised as a soldier to evade detection by Chinese troops.

The last surviving member of a small troop of soldiers who escorted the Dalai Lama as he fled from Tibet in 1959 has died aged 85, his former regiment said today.

The Tibetan spiritual leader arrived in India as a young monk after a 13-day trek through the Himalayas disguised as a soldier to evade detection by Chinese troops.

Naren Chandra Das, who died Monday at his residence in Assam, was 22 at the time and had just completed his training with the Assam Rifles, the Indian Army's oldest paramilitary force.

Along with six other soldiers, he escorted the monk to Lumla in Arunachal Pradesh on March 31, 1959.