On Wednesday, 127 years after they were removed during colonial rule, jewels that made up a portion of the Buddha’s revered Piprahwa relics—which had just been put up for auction at Sotheby’s Hong Kong—were returned to India.
According to Ministry of Culture officials who spoke to reporters on Wednesday, Pirojsha Godrej of Godrej Industries Group volunteered to purchase the 349 jewels in the collection. Although the transaction’s exact value was not revealed, the collection is thought to be worth more than $100 million.
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the Union Culture Minister, described it as “an exemplary case of public-private partnership.”
“A large portion of the acquired collection will be on loan to the National Museum for five years, and Godrej Industries has agreed to display the entire gem collection upon its arrival in India for a period of three months,” he said. The artifacts were found while excavating an old Buddhist stupa in Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, which is close to the border between India and Nepal. For the Buddhist community, they are extremely significant both religiously and culturally.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X: “It would make every Indian proud that the sacred Piprahwa relics of Bhagwan Buddha have come home after 127 long years. These sacred relics highlight India’s close association with Bhagwan Buddha and his noble teachings. It also illustrates our commitment to preserving and protecting different aspects of our glorious culture.”
The Piprawaha tranche includes sandstone coffers, soapstone and crystal caskets, and bone fragments thought to be that of the Buddha in addition to the ornaments and gemstones that went up for auction.
Additionally, Chris Peppé received a legal notice from the Ministry of Culture requesting that he remove the relics from the auction and send them back to India. The Consulate General of Hong Kong was asked by the Archaeological Survey of India to bring the issue up with the appropriate authorities and demand that the auction be immediately stopped.
Culture Minister Shekhawat brought up the matter with UK Secretary of State for Culture Lisa Nandy on May 2. The minister called for quick action to stop the auction and emphasized the relics’ cultural and religious significance. However, because the relics belonged to a private individual, the UK is said to have stated that it was unable to assist.
