The 25th Kalachakra Initiation, conferred by His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Salugara from 23 to 25 December, 1996 with the preliminary teachings from 19 to 22 December, saw a record attendance of Buddhist devotees from the Himalayan region.

Around 250,000 devotees attended the initiation. The police gave the figure at 200,000 while the organisers, Himalayan Buddhist Cultural Association, said 250,000 people turned up. Over 3,000 Tibetans had come from Tibet. There were from 25,000 to 40,000 Bhutanese and 10,000 to 12,000 Monpas (people from the Indian State of Arunachal Pradesh - North-West India). There were Tibetans, Bhutanese and Nepalese from Sikkim and Nepal as well.

The teachings and initiations were translated into English, Nepali and Bhutanese. This was the first Kalachakra Initiations when His Holiness the Dalai Lama's teachings were translated into Bhutanese language.