Sotheby’s postpones auction of jewels linked to the Buddha after India calls for their return

By Helen Regan, CNN

(CNN) — Sotheby’s has postponed the controversial sale of a dazzling cache of jewels linked to the remains of the Buddha after India’s government slammed the auction and called for the gems’ return.

In a statement emailed to CNN on Wednesday, the auction house said its decision came “in light of the matters” raised by officials in India, where the jewels were dug up more than a century ago by a British colonial official. The postponement, which Sotheby’s said was agreed to by the sellers, will “allow for discussions between the parties,” the statement added.

The collection of “gem relics” — including amethysts, pearls, carnelians, shell and embossed gold sheets — was 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 had earlier said on its website. The web page dedicated to the sale has since been taken down.

The gems were 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.” It also called on Sotheby’s to “return these sacred artifacts to their rightful place.”

In a brief statement posted to Facebook on Wednesday, the ministry welcomed the auction house’s decision to postpone the sale, adding: “Further details will be shared in due course.”

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 put up for auction were 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 — consisting of duplicates of the main collection — were retained by Peppé.

Controversial auction

The upcoming sale of the gems handed down to Peppé’s descendants had 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,” he added.

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 amounted 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,” they wrote.

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.

Prior to the auction’s postponement, Chris Peppé told CNN that his family believe the 334 items in their possession should go to Buddhists.

“Despite exhibitions in major museums including the Met, there has been relatively little interest from the public (including Buddhists) in the gems. Choosing temples and museums for donation all presented different problems on closer scrutiny,” he said.

“The auction seems to have finally brought the gems into the spotlight and may present the fairest and most transparent way to transfer this small part of the original find to Buddhists.

Chris Peppé said 25% of the proceeds from the auction were due to be donated to “Buddhist institutions” and a further 25% to the display of the main Piprahwa collection in Kolkata, which has never been exhibited to the public.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Oscar Holland contributed to this story.