India slams auction of jewels linked to the Buddha, calls for their return

By Helen Regan, CNN

(CNN) — India’s government has slammed the proposed sale of a dazzling cache of jewels linked to the remains of the Buddha and called for their return to India, where they were dug up more than a century ago by a British colonial official.

The collection of “gem relics” — including amethysts, pearls, carnelians, shell and embossed gold sheets — is set to go up for auction in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

Described by Sotheby’s auction house as having “unparalleled religious, archaeological and historical importance,” the gem relics are considered sacred by many Buddhists, who believe they are the corporeal remains of the Buddha.

“Nothing of comparable importance in early Buddhism has ever appeared at auction,” Sotheby’s said on its website.

The gems are being sold by three descendants of William Claxton Peppé, a British colonial engineer who made the extraordinary discovery in the village of Piprahwa after excavating part of his estate in northern India in 1898.

Though the Buddha was born in what is now Nepal, he became enlightened, first preached, and died in neighboring India.

On Monday, India’s Ministry of Culture said it was taking “swift and comprehensive” measures to “immediately” stop the sale and “highlight the illegality of the auction and ensure compliance with international laws.”

“We call upon Sotheby’s Hong Kong to immediately withdraw the relics from auction and cooperate with Indian authorities to return these sacred artifacts to their rightful place,” the ministry said.

CNN has reached out to Sotheby’s Hong Kong for comment. In its statement, the ministry said Sotheby’s general counsel had replied to the legal notice and assured that “our full attention is given to this matter.”

Peppé’s Birdpur estate was located in what is now northern Uttar Pradesh, about 20 kilometers from Lumbini, the Buddha’s birthplace across the border in Nepal.

His excavation of the site uncovered an ancient Buddhist stupa and a huge sandstone sarcophagus-like tomb. Inside the cavern were five vessels containing about 1,800 gemstones and precious metals, dating to around 240 BCE, and small pieces of bone and ash.

An inscription on one of the urns indicated the remains belonged to the Buddha, who had his ashes buried at eight separate sites following his death around 480 BCE.

Historians have said the site was the first credible find of the Buddha’s relics in modern times and captured the imagination of Buddhist scholars and devotees ever since.

“These gem relics (in all likelihood contributed by the Buddha’s clansmen), are, by association, as valuable as the ash and bone pieces (of the Buddha) themselves that were found alongside them,” said Karam Tej S. Sarao, former professor and head of the department of Buddhist Studies at the University of Delhi.

The gems up for auction are a small portion of the original find.

Following the discovery, the bone and ash fragments were gifted by the British to King Chulalongkorn of Siam, now Thailand. They are now spread across important Buddhist sites in Thailand, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Most of the gems were sent to an Indian museum in Kolkata, according to the Indian government, and a fifth of the total find was retained by Peppé.

Controversial auction

The sale of the gems handed down to Peppé’s descendants has sparked criticism among several historians.

“There is a limit to greed. Commercialization… of the relic gems must be stopped,” said Sarao, the former professor.

“The gems should be immediately handed over to the Indian government” to be “enshrined in the Piprahwā Stūpa where they belong.”

Curator Conan Cheong and Professor Ashley Thompson of SOAS, University of London, both specialists in Southeast Asian Buddhist art, wrote in a joint paper that the sale amounts to “perpetuating colonial violence.”

The relics are considered the “corporeal remains imbued with the living presence of the Buddha” and so, “for the Buddhists who deposited them, as for many Buddhists today, gems, bone and ash are all relics.”

Chris Peppé, great grandson of William Claxton Peppé, and two of his cousins now have possession of the gem relics. Since inheriting them in 2013, the family have “sought to make them available for viewing by the public (ideally a Buddhist public).”

Through the Piprahwa Project, the family has made research on the gem relics available to the public and the gems have been exhibited in museums around the world.

CNN has reached out to Chris Peppé for comment. Writing in a piece for Sotheby’s, Chris Peppé said, “as our custodianship of the Piprahwa gem relics ends, I hope they will go to someone who really values them.”

“And I hope that many people will be able to see the gems and connect with the Buddhists who gave them over two thousand years ago, with our shared human experience of wonder and awe and with the Buddha and his teachings,” he added.

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