'Bhagwan Buddha Belongs To Everyone': PM Modi Inaugurates Exhibition Of Sacred Piprahwa Relics

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated a grand exposition of the sacred Piprahwa relics related to Bhagwan Buddha at the Rai Pithora Cultural Complex, New Delhi.

Titled "The Light & the Lotus: Relics of the Awakened One," it includes bone fragments believed to be of the Buddha, a sandstone coffer, and offerings such as ornaments and gemstones, which were excavated in northern India in the late 19th century.

"For India, the sacred relics of Bhagwan Buddha are not merely artefacts, they are a part of our revered heritage and an inseparable part of our civilisation," PM Modi said while addressing the gathering at the event.

After a wait of one and a quarter centuries, he said, India's heritage has returned, and India's sacred legacy has come back home. The wisdom and path shown by Bhagwan Buddha belong to all of humanity, he said. The Prime Minister also thanked the Godrej Group for ensuring that the relics of Buddha return to his homeland.

Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, various ambassadors and other members of the diplomatic corps, venerable Buddhist monks, senior government officials, scholars, heritage experts, several members of the art fraternity, art aficionados, followers of Buddhism, and many students participated in the inauguration ceremony.

Following the discovery of the relics at Piprahwa (in today's Uttar Pradesh) by William Claxton Peppe in 1898, portions were distributed globally, with a part gifted to the King of Siam (now Thailand), another one taken to England, and a part preserved at the Indian Museum in Calcutta (now Kolkata), the Ministry of Culture said in a statement.

A selection of the relics retained by the descendants of Peppe — who was of British descent — was listed for auction on May 7 last year by Sotheby's Hong Kong. However, the auction was halted, and the relics returned to India in 2025 through "decisive intervention by the ministry, supported by Buddhist communities worldwide, it said. Now, the ministry is hosting a landmark exposition showcasing the Piprahwa relics, including reliquaries and gem relics.

The exposition underscores India's role as the birthplace of Buddhism and reinforces its position as a global spiritual and cultural leader, the ministry said. "India's global engagement increasingly draws upon its civilisational and spiritual inheritance. As many as 642 antiquities have been repatriated to India, with the return of the Piprahwa relics standing as a landmark achievement," the ministry said.

The exposition will open for public viewing from January 4, and it will run for a couple of months. These relics were originally discovered at Piprahwa. A majority of these relics were transferred to the Indian Museum in Calcutta in 1899 and classified as "AA" antiquities under the Indian law, prohibiting their removal or sale, according to the ministry.

The Piprahwa relics are widely believed to be associated with the mortal remains of the Buddha, enshrined by the Sakya clan, officials said. An inscription in the Brahmi script on one of the caskets confirms these as relics of the Buddha deposited by the clan, they said.

For the first time since the 1898 excavation, the exposition brings together relics from the original digging, treasures from the 1972 excavation, reliquaries and jewelled treasures from the Indian Museum, recently repatriated relics from the Peppe family collection, and "the monolithic stone coffer within which the gem relics and reliquaries were originally found," the ministry said.

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