Why is it in the News?

Four of the 20 relics of Lord Buddha preserved at the National Museum are being taken to Thailand for a month-long exposition beginning recently, in a rare trip abroad for the delicate antiquities recovered more than a century ago.

About the Relics of Lord Buddha:

• The relics of Lord Buddha and his disciples Arahata Sariputra and Arahata Maudgalayana are known as the ‘Kapilvastu Relics.’
• The relics date back to around the 4th or 5th Century BC.
• They were found in Bihar’s Piprahwa — a site that is believed to be the ancient city of Kapilvastu.
  • Piprahwa today is located in Uttar Pradesh’s Siddharthnagar district.
• The relics were discovered by a team of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) officials in the 1970s.
  • The ASI conducted excavations at Piprahwa from 1971-77 under the supervision of the archaeology director KM Srivastava.

History:

• Lord Buddha achieved Mahaparinirvana at the age of 80 in Kushinagar.
• The Mallas of Kushinagara cremated his body with ceremonies befitting a ‘Universal King’ (‘cakravartin’).
• His holy relics, from the funeral pyre, were collected, divided and given by Brahmin priest Dhona of Kushinagar to kings and priests.
  • The eight shares were distributed among Ajatashatru of Magadha, the Licchavis of Vaishali, the Sakyas of Kapilavastu, Mallas of Kushinagar, Bullies of Allakappa, the Mallas of Pava, the Koliyas of Ramagrama and a Brahmana of Vethadipa.
  • The sacred relics were commemorated in eight different stupas.
• Two more stupas came into existence, one over the urn in which the relics had been collected and one over the embers.
• Thus, stupas erected over the bodily relics of Buddha (Saririka-stupas) are the earliest surviving Buddhist shrines.
• It is stated that Ashoka (circa 272-232 BC), being an ardent follower of Buddhism, opened up seven of these eight stupas, and collected a major portion of the relics for enshrinement within innumerable stupas built by him to popularise Buddhism and spread dharma.
• In 1898, the discovery of an inscribed casket by William Claxton Peppé, a British colonial engineer and an estate manager at a Buddhist stupa site at Piprahwa, was an epoch-making incident.
  • The inscription on the lid referred to the relics of Buddha and his community.
• The bone relics present in the stone coffer were presented to King Rama V of Thailand.
• The relics were further divided into three shares and gifted to Thailand, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
  • In Thailand, the holy relic has been enshrined in a chedi on the top of Suwanbanphot, Bangkok.
• Every year, during the Loi Krathong Festival, there is a seven-day and seven-night celebration, which has become a tradition to worship the Buddha’s relics.