The Ministry of Culture, Government of India, proudly announced the historic return of the sacred Piprahwa relics of Lord Buddha to their rightful home in India.

This momentous home-coming has been made possible through an exemplary public-private partnership between the Government of India and the Godrej Industries Group.

The Piprahwa relics, discovered in 1898 by British civil engineer William Claxton Peppé in Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, are believed to be associated with the mortal remains of Lord Buddha.

Enshrined by His followers around the 3rd century BCE, these relics have long held immense spiritual value for the global Buddhist community. These also represent one of the most important archaeological discoveries in India’s history.

Timely Intervention Prevents Auction in Hong Kong

Originally slated for auction in Hong Kong in May 2025, the sacred artefacts were successfully secured by the Ministry of Culture through decisive intervention, reflecting the Government’s unwavering commitment to preserving India’s cultural and spiritual heritage.

The Piprahwa relics area collection of sacred Buddhist artifacts, primarily consisting of precious gems, discovered in an inscribed reliquary urn at the Piprahwa Stupa in India. These relics, believed to be from the Shakya clan's portion of the Buddha's ashes, are thought to date back to around 240-200 BCE. The discovery was made during excavations in 1898 by William Claxton Peppé.

Location: The relics were found at the Piprahwa Stupa, believed to be the site of the ancient Kapilavastu, the Shakya clan's capital and possibly the Buddha's birthplace.

Ingredients: The relics include a variety of precious stones like pearls, rubies, topazes, and sapphires, as well as patterned gold worked into jewels.

These are believed to be offerings associated with the Buddha's remains, specifically the Shakya clan's share of his ashes. Some scholars interpret them as special relics symbolizing the ongoing "quality of Buddhahood".

Controversy: In 2025, the relics were the subject of an attempted auction in Hong Kong by the descendants of William Claxton Peppé, which sparked significant controversy and intervention from the Indian government.

Historical Context: The Mahāvaṃsa, an ancient Sri Lankan chronicle, states that seeing the relics is akin to beholding the Buddha himself. This highlights the deep spiritual significance Buddhists place on these items.

Union Culture Minister Lauds PM Modi’s Vision

Union Minister of Culture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat states: “The return of the Piprahwa “Gems” is a matter of great pride for every Indian. This is one of the most significant instances of receiving back of our lost heritage and would not have been possible without the vision and initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”

Corporate Commitment to Cultural Legacy

Executive Vice Chairperson of Godrej Industries Group, Pirojsha Godrej remarks: “We are deeply honored to contribute to this historic moment. The Piprahwa gems are not just artefacts—they are timeless symbols of peace, compassion, and the shared heritage of humanity. Our partnership with the Government of India reflects our deep commitment to preserving cultural legacies for future generations.”

A Model of Cultural Cooperation

This successful repatriation sets a benchmark in cultural diplomacy and collaboration, showcasing how strategic partnerships between public institutions and private enterprise can protect and preserve global heritage.

Upcoming Public Display Ceremony: The sacred Piprahwa relics will be formally unveiled during a special ceremony and placed on public display, allowing citizens and global visitors to pay homage and witness these rare artefacts.

Strengthening India’s Role as Global Custodian of Heritage:

This initiative aligns with Prime Minister Modi’s broader mission to reclaim and celebrate Bharat’s ancient cultural and spiritual heritage from across the world. The return of the Piprahwa Gems further reinforces India’s standing as a global guardian of peace, compassion, and the timeless values of the Buddha.

In fact, there are an estimated 520 million followers of Buddha worldwide, according to a recent estimate. This makes Buddhism the fourth-largest religion globally. While Buddhism is primarily practiced in the Asia-Pacific region, with nearly 99% of Buddhists residing there, its influence is growing in the West as well.

Global Population: Buddhists make up roughly 7% of the world's population.

Regional Concentration: The majority of Buddhists live in the Asia-Pacific region, with significant populations in countries like China, India, Thailand, Japan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.

Growth in the West: While Buddhism's roots are in Asia, its philosophy and practices, particularly mindfulness, are gaining popularity in Western countries, too.

These wondrous gem relics, discovered in an inscribed reliquary urn with the Shakya clan’s share of the bones of Shakyamuni Buddha, are of unparalleled religious, archaeological and historical importance. Excavated by William Claxton Peppé (1852-1936) in 1898 at Piprahwa, now widely considered to be the site of the ancient city Kapilavastu, they have been handed down through the family to the present day. Nothing of comparable importance in early Buddhism has ever appeared at auction.

Articulated by Mahinda (285 – 205 BCE), the first-born son of Ashoka, this timeless quote encapsulates the importance of relics, and the power of śarīra in embodying the actual person of the Buddha, not merely remembering him. The cult of relic worship in early Buddhism, frequently depicted carved in relief on stone, originated when the remains of Shakyamuni Buddha were subdivided into eight parts after his death at Kushinagar.

According to the Mahāparinibbāna-sutta, originally his ashes were to go only to the Shakya clan in which he grew up, but after competing tribes fought for a share, a Brahmin named Drona divided the ashes of the Buddha into eight portions. Each of the eight claimants were said to have placed them within stupas. Buddhist worshippers venerating these actual relics saw them as revealing the person of the Buddha.

The first contact relic to be revered was the clay pot retained by Brahmin Drona after the subdivisions. Gem relics donated as relic offerings by Buddhists seeking merit, became contact relics after being mixed in with the bone relics of Shakyamuni Buddha. For Buddhist pilgrims, to visit the sacred landscape of places where the Historical Buddha had passed through and lived was also as much a part of this cult of relic worship as the veneration of relics themselves.

In the late 19th century, archaeologists in north India were focused on mapping out this sacred landscape, drawing closely on the recently translated diaries of the early Chinese pilgrim monks Faxian (337-422) and Xuanzang (602-664), whose accounts of their pilgrimages were remarkably detailed, noting all the places they had visited, including Bodh Gaya, Kushinagar and Kapilavastu, the capital of the Shaykas where early Pali texts record that Siddhartha Gautama spent 29 years of his life.

As John Guy expounds in ‘Buddha and the Jewel-filled Casket: the first breakthrough happened in 1896 with the excavation at Lumbini in Nepal of a pillar inscribed by royal order of Ashoka, identifying the location as the birthplace of Shakyamuni Buddha. Inspired by the discovery, William Claxton Peppé, an English estate manager and trained engineer began to excavate the largest of several ancient mounds on his land at Piprahwa, just 19 kilometres south of Lumbini.

The discovery of a fired brick core indicated that this was indeed an ancient stupa. Proceeding with a full excavation, Peppé’s workers found a vaulted chamber consistent with Mauryan construction of the 3rd century BCE which revealed a spectacular sandstone reliquary coffer, the largest monolithic coffer ever discovered in Buddhist India.

Inside it were five reliquaries containing a magnificent group of close to 1800 gems and precious metal sheets, together with bone and ash, all consistent with reliquary forms known from other important Mauryan Buddhist sites.

One of the reliquaries was a unique masterpiece of rock crystal carved with a fish-form handle, the other four of steatite. The short inscription in late Mauryan Brahmi script (in the local Prakrit, Magadhi, likely the language spoken by the Buddha) incised on the upper cover of one of the steatite reliquaries was deciphered initially by the Indologist Vincent Smith (1848-1920), who identified that it revealed the presence of the remains of the Historical Buddha.

“The Blessed One was the greatest of our clan. We are worthy to receive a portion of the relics[and] will erect a stupa over the relics and hold a festival in their honour’.” It can therefore be surmised that the first stupa at Piprahwa would have been built at the time of the Buddha’s death around 400 BCE and rebuilt at the time of Ashoka, around 240 BCE, when the Lumbini pillar was erected. The reliquaries and the gems were likely to have been commissioned by wealthy donors, or Ashoka himself, to be installed as an act of merit within the renovated stupa.

Government of India and Godrej Industries Group Joined Hands to Secure Revered Buddhist Relics
Seeing the Relics is akin to beholding the Buddha himself
There are an estimated 520 million followers of Lord Buddha worldwide

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