Exiled Tibetans hold special prayers for Mandela in Dharamsala

Exiled Tibetans living in Dharamshala held a special prayer session over the weekend to pay tribute to the late South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela, hailing him as a source of inspiration.

Mandela, who emerged from 27 years in apartheid prisons to help guide South Africa to democracy, died on Thursday at the age of 95.

The prayer session was organised by the exiled government of Tibet at the Tsuglagkhang Buddhist temple of Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh state.

Several monks, Tibetans, government officials and the exiled Prime Minister, Lobsang Sangay, attended the event.

"This prayer is also dedicated to Nelson Mandela, noble laureate, who just passed away few days ago," said Lobsang Sangay.

Lobsang also said that Mandela would be an inspiration to the Tibetans, who were fighting against injustice.

"It is sad to see him pass away, but it gives us courage that his legacy of equality and justice that prevailed over unjust governments is inspiration for Tibetans," he said.

Tributes have flooded in across the world, U.S. President Barack Obama said the world had lost "one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this earth".

President Jacob Zuma said Mandela would be buried on December 15 at his ancestral home in the Eastern Cape.

Although not unexpected, Mandela's death at 95 has sparked fears that South Africa might be vulnerable again to racial and social tensions.

Despite reassurances from public figures that Mandela's death, while sorrowful, would not halt South Africa's advance from its apartheid past, some have expressed unease about the absence of a man famed as a peacemaker.