Khenrab Tenzin (one of the monks) coiled a rosary, that had belonged to the thirteenth Dalai Lama, around his wrist in the hope that the boy would show some sign of recognition. There was no such response, and the youngster soon ran from the room in tears. Soon after that, the monks asked the next boy to come in the room. They gave him the same test as the first boy except they got more than they bargained for. Tenzin showed him the rosary, and the boy said, "I want that". Tenzin told him he could have it, if he identified Tenzin correctly. Not only did he do that, he also told him where he was from. He did this and he had never even seen this man before. The monks were so excited, they could barley contain their emotion. They almost immediately "threw him at the throne of Tibet". They showered him with gifts and praise, all of this and the Dalai Lama was only 2 1/2-years-old.(Goodman 17).
On February 22,1940, when he was, not quite five years old, the Dalai Lama became the undisputed spiritual head of Tibet in an elaborate ritual:.
The ceremonies were interminable. There were long, sonorous invocations, interspersed with the bass roar of the four-yard-long dungchen or "great horn",the trilling and ringing of the dribu a hand-bell; the cry, like an English hunting horn, of the gyaling; and the beating of man kinds of drums, from the rigid patter of the little handheld damaru to the deep, dull, unearthly thump of drums that took two monks to carry. There were little ceremonial dances with music and mime, and debates on Buddhist topics . All through this, the little boy sat with perfect composure, dispensing blessings in the appropriate way to the hundreds of people who came to pay homage although no one had shown him how!(Stewart 59).
As the Dalai Lama grew up, he came into more contact with the outside world. The Dalai Lama's servants told him of the social injustice in his country.
