The Dalai Lama is expected to resume his travels later this month. (Associated Press)

Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has undergone surgery in New Delhi to remove gallstones, his spokesman said Friday.

Friday's surgery was a "simple, routine procedure," said Chhime R. Chhoekyapa, the Dalai Lama's spokesman.

The surgery comes just days after the Dalai Lama, 73, was examined by doctors in the Indian capital and was given the go-ahead to resume his world travels.

He was originally expected to return Thursday to the northern Indian town of Dharamsala, where he has lived in exile since 1959, but instead was hospitalized after a new bout of abdominal pain.

His aide Tenzin Taklha said the Dalai Lama is expected to spend two days in hospital, then a few days in Delhi while he recovers, and he will likely resume his work by the end of October.

In August, the Dalai Lama was admitted to a Mumbai hospital for four days and underwent tests for abdominal discomfort, for which doctors advised him to cancel international trips and rest.

At the time, doctors said he was suffering from exhaustion.

The Dalai Lama usually travels for several months a year to teach Buddhism and to draw attention to Tibet's struggle for greater freedom in China.

Tibetan Buddhists say the spiritual leader is the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. According to centuries-old tradition, monks search for the reincarnation of the lama after a spiritual leader's death.

The news of the Dalai Lama's surgery had initially sparked worries in Dharamsala, the Associated Press reported.

The Dalai Lama is a central figure, spiritually and politically, for thousands of Tibetan exiles.

"I have been thinking about this for a long time. He is 73 and will not always be around," said Tenzin Ngodup, a 28-year-old exile who escaped from Tibet into India in 1997. "What would happen to us when he is not around? I get very worried. People in Tibet have a lot of hope and faith that since he is here, something good will happen in Tibet. If the Dalai Lama goes, they will lose all hope."

With files from the Associated Press