India will hold an exposition of some of the relics of Lord Buddha, which are in its possession, in Thailand from February 22 to March 18.
The relics (20 bone fragments) have been preserved at the National Museum here. At first the relics would be kept at the National Museum, Bangkok, and would then be exhibited at five different venues across Thailand, a senior Union Culture Ministry official said.
The relics of Lord Buddha along with the relics of two of his disciples, preserved in Madhya Pradesh’s Sanchi are being sent on the request of the Thai government, a senior official said.
The Buddha relics under the care of the National Museum were excavated from Piprahwa in the Siddharthnagar District of Uttar Pradesh, an erstwhile part of the ancient city of Kapilavastu.
It was in 1952 that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) took ownership of Piprahwa after the abolition of Zamindari system in Uttar Pradesh and this enabled further excavations at the site. The ASI conducted excavations at the site in 1971–77.
Portions of this collection of sacred relics have been earlier taken to Sri Lanka in 1976 and 2012, Mongolia in 1993 and 2022, Singapore in 1994 and 2007, South Korea in 1995 and Thailand also in 1995.
