Buddha’s relics
- Category
History
- Published
23rd Feb, 2024
-
Context
Four of the 20 relics of Lord Buddha preserved at the National Museum are being taken to Thailand for a month-long exposition.
About
About (Kapilvastu Relics)
- The relics at the National Museum are known as the ‘Kapilvastu Relics’ as they were recovered in 1898 from a site in Bihar believed to be the ancient city of Kapilvastu.
- It was an inscribed casket found at the stupa site in Piprahwa (near Siddharthnagar in Uttar Pradesh) that helped identify Kapilavastu.
- The casket contained the relics of Buddha and Sakya, his community.
- The relics fall under the ‘AA’ (rare) category of antiquities and art treasures.
Can they be lent for exhibitions?
- They are not meant to be lent for exhibitions, within India or in foreign nations.
- But the exposition in Thailand was being held upon a “special request” by the Thai Government
What are Buddha relics?
- Simply put, they are the Buddha's cremated remains.
- As per the Buddhist belief, at the age of 80 (486-483 BC), lord Buddha obtained salvation in Kushinagar (Uttar Pradesh).
- Lord Buddha was cremated as a universal king by the Mallas of Kushinagar.
- His funeral relicswere collected and divided into eight shares to be distributed among them
- Ajathsatrus of Magadha
- Vaishali's Licchavis
- the Sakyas of Kapilavastu
- Housing in Kushinagar
- Alakappa Bullies
- Mallas of Pava
- the Colossians of Ramagrama once
- Brahmana of Vethadipa
- The purpose was to place stupas on sacred relics.
- Other stupas appeared, one on top of the pipe where the remains were collected and the other on the coals.
- The remains were later excavated by Ashoka - ruler of the Maurya Dynasty, who ruled almost the entire Indian subcontinent from c. 268 to 232 B.C.
- He dispersed the remains and built stupas over them throughout his district.
- According to Ashokavadana, Ashoka had relics of Buddha placed on 84,000 stupas made up of Yakshas (usually gentle natural spirits).
Buddhism in India:
- Siddhartha Gautam, born in 563 BC, was part of the Sakya royal family that ruled from Kapilvastu, Lumbini. At the age of 29, Gautama left home and led a life of self-denial.
- After 49 days of meditation, Gautama received enlightenment under a pipal tree at Bodhgaya in Bihar.
- Buddha made his first sermon in the village of Sarnath, near the town of Benares in the UP. The event is known as the Dharma-Chakra-Pravartana (legal wheel revolution).
- He died at the age of 80 in Kushinagara, a city in the UP. The event is known as Mahaparinibban.