📅 May 7, 2025, Post 6: Piprahwa Relics: India Moves to Halt Sacred Buddha Relics Auction in Hong Kong | Target IAS-26 MCQs Attached: A complete Package, Dear Aspirants!
Piprahwa Relics: India Moves to Halt Sacred Buddha Relics Auction in Hong Kong
🔹 NEWS DROP — PETAL 006
📅 May 7, 2025
🎯 GS Paper 1 & 2 | Art & Culture – Buddhist Heritage, Cultural Sovereignty
🌀 Intro Whisper
When the bones of the Enlightened One are put under the hammer, it is not just heritage at stake — it is history, sanctity, and civilizational soul.
🔍 Key Highlights
- Sotheby’s Hong Kong listed Buddha relics from Piprahwa for auction.
- India’s Ministry of Culture intervened, seeking to stop the auction on legal and ethical grounds.
- These relics were excavated in 1898 by William Claxton Peppé from the Piprahwa Stupa near Siddharthnagar, Uttar Pradesh.
🪔 Historical & Religious Significance
- Site believed to be Kapilavastu, the birthplace of Lord Buddha.
- The relics include:
- Bone fragments
- Stone caskets
- Gold and gemstone offerings
- A Brahmi inscription confirmed they were deposited by the Sakya clan, linking them directly to the Buddha.
🏛️ Status & Legal Protection
- Majority of relics were transferred to the Indian Museum, Kolkata in 1899.
- Classified as ‘AA’ antiquities under India’s Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, which:
- Prohibits export or commercial sale
- Declares national heritage assets as inalienable
- Some relics were gifted to the King of Siam (Thailand).
- The portion retained by Peppé’s descendants is the focus of the current dispute.
🧭 GS Paper Mapping
GS3: Ethics – Heritage Repatriation, Moral Diplomacy
GS1: Art & Culture – Buddhist Sites, Stupa Excavations
GS2: Governance – Cultural Heritage Protection
Target IAS-26: Daily MCQs :
📌 Prelims Practice MCQs
Topic:
🧠 Prelims MCQ (Type 4 – Direct Question)
Q. The Piprahwa relics, recently in the news, are significant because they:
A) Contain remains of Lord Buddha confirmed through inscriptional evidence
B) Are part of the Mauryan royal seal discovered in Bihar
C) Represent the earliest Tamil manuscript found in Sri Lanka
D) Were excavated from Sanchi and sold in colonial Europe
🌀 Didn’t get it? Click here (▸) for the Correct Answer & Explanation
✅ Correct Answer: A) Contain remains of Lord Buddha confirmed through inscriptional evidence
🧠 Explanation:
• The Piprahwa relics were excavated from a stupa believed to be Kapilavastu and included a Brahmi inscription confirming they were the Buddha’s relics deposited by the Sakya clan.
