Lord Buddha's Devotees Throng Sarnath To Have A Glimpse Of Urn Containing His Ashes
Devotees can pay respect to the urn only three days in a year; Only Buddhists are allowed to view this sacred urn.
Published : November 3, 2025 at 7:43 PM IST
Varanasi: Devotees have thronged Sarnath, the site of Lord Buddha’s first sermon, to get a glimpse of the urn containing his ashes. The viewing of the ashes began on Monday when Sarnath's Mulagandha Kuti Vihara was thrown open ahead of Kartik Purnima. Only Buddhists are allowed to view this sacred urn of ashes for three days in the entire year.
Till November 5, millions of Buddhist devotees from India and abroad will visit the site to pay their respects to the urn containing the ashes. The meditation area has been lavishly decorated for this purpose, and tight security arrangements have also been put in place.
Shilavansh Thero, the head priest at Mulagandha Kuti Vihara, said that devotees from all over the world are coming in large numbers to pay their respects before the urn containing Lord Buddha's ashes. “Millions of devotees visit this sacred urn every year,” he disclosed.
The viewing of this urn of Lord Buddha’s ashes holds special significance in Buddhism. It is accessible to devotees only for three days in a year and this time it is being made available to the devotees from November 3 to November 5. The devotees are also receiving prasad after the viewing which is allowed from 6 am to 11 am.
The devotees say that they find great peace in seeing Buddha's relics. The temple has been beautifully decorated and has strict security measures in place while the devotees offer their prayers.
Devotees have arrived from countries including Sri Lanka and Myanmar, Thailand, Japan, Nepal and other places.
The urn containing the ashes is kept safe at the Sarnath Temple. This urn was brought to Varanasi from Vietnam and is kept under the supervision of the Mahabodhi Society of India.
This urn was sent from Sarnath to Vietnam a few days ago for display on the occasion of Vaishakh Purnima. The head priest explained that the ashes of Lord Buddha have been placed in eight stupas in India and Nepal. They were entrusted to eight kings.
To ensure that they were not immersed and kept safe, Emperor Ashoka's guru extracted a promise from him more than 2000 years ago that the ashes of Lord Buddha would be distributed throughout the country and the world.
The head priest explained that these ashes were brought to Varanasi in 1931 and are displayed in Varanasi on Kartik Purnima because Anagarika Dhammapala established a new monastery at Sarnath on this day.
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