Sacred ancient gems linked to the Buddha were unveiled yesterday in India for the first time since their colonial-era removal.
The Piprahwa gems, a collection of more than 300 precious stones and ornaments believed to have been buried with relics of the Buddha at a stupa site in northern India, were formally displayed at an exhibition in New Delhi.
“This historic event marks the reunification of the Piprahwa gem relics of Lord Buddha, repatriated after 127 years,” the Indian Ministry of Culture said, adding that they are on display for the first time since British excavations in 1898 unearthed them and they were subsequently scattered across the world.
Photo: AFP, Indian Press Information Bureau
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who opened the exhibition, said it was a “very special day for those passionate about history, culture and the ideals” of the Buddha.
The Buddha — who renounced material wealth to embrace and preach a life of non-attachment — founded a religion that now has more than 500 million adherents.
Born in what is now Nepal, he spent much of his life in northern India.
The gems, believed to date back to about 200BC, were unearthed in 1898 by British colonial engineer William Claxton Peppe in Piprahwa, India.
Indian authorities said an inscription on one of the caskets unearthed with the treasure confirmed the contents — which include bone fragments — as “relics of the Buddha.”
While the majority were handed over to colonial authorities and some were housed in the Indian Museum in Kolkata, Peppe kept a treasure trove of jewels.
In May last year, Peppe’s great-grandson, Chris Peppe, put the gems up for sale.
They were listed for auction by Sotheby’s in Hong Kong, with a starting bid of US$1.2 million, with experts suggesting they could have made 10 times that.
The auction was canceled after the ministry issued a legal order calling the jewels the “inalienable religious and cultural heritage of India and the global Buddhist community.”
The gems were then bought by an Indian conglomerate, Godrej Industries Group, in partnership with the Indian government. The sale price was not disclosed.
“The Piprahwa gems are not just artifacts,” company vice-chairman Pirojsha Godrej said. “They are timeless symbols of peace, compassion and the shared heritage of humanity.”
Chris Peppe said his family was happy that the “gems will be available for the public” to see.
The exhibition in New Delhi brings together the recently returned jewels, other treasures stored in Kolkata and relics from later excavations in the 1970s.
Modi has in the past loaned parts of the Piprahwa collection for brief exhibitions to places with major Buddhist populations, including Russia’s Kalmykia region and neighboring Bhutan.
The ministry said the return of the gems was part of Modi’s “broader mission to reclaim and celebrate Bharat’s [India’s] ancient cultural and spiritual heritage from across the world.”
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