Yogi writes to PM for displaying Buddha’s Piprahwa relics at ‘their appropriate place’

The relics, brought back in July from Hong Kong where they were to be auctioned, are housed in National Museum

Written by Maulshree Seth

Lucknow | Updated: September 26, 2025 09:10 PM IST

3 min read

CM Adityanath pointed towards the global significance of the relics, while assuring to “secure and protect” the artifacts belonging to the founder of Buddhism. (Source: (@CMOfficeUP/X via PTI Photo)

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking help from the Union Ministry of Culture to put on public display the Piprahwa relics of Lord Buddha in Siddharthnagar district where they were discovered in 1898.

Piprahwa village falls in the Kapilvastu region, an ancient Buddhist site, straddling Siddharthnagar district and Nepal. The relics, including Buddha’s bone fragments and caskets and jewels, were brought back in July from Hong Kong, where they were to be auctioned by Sotheby’s before being halted by the Union Ministry of Culture.

In a letter dated September 16, CM Adityanath pointed towards the global significance of the relics, while assuring to “secure and protect” the artifacts belonging to the founder of Buddhism.

Currently, UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya is leading an Indian delegation to Russia carrying the relics for an exhibition in Kalmykia of Volga region.

Expressing gratitude to the Centre on behalf of the people of the state for bringing the relics back to India, the Chief Minister pointed out that it would be most appropriate to display these relics in Piprahwa where they were found 127 years before.

“The sacred land of Piprahwa (Kapilavastu), from where these relics of Lord Buddha were recovered, is the most appropriate place to display them,” he wrote in the letter.

Assuring that the state government will make all necessary arrangements to protect the relics and make land available for the purpose, he requested the Union Ministry of Culture to construct a stupa-like structure to place these relics. He also pointed out how Lumbini (the birthplace of Gautam Buddha in present-day Nepal) is 26 kilometres from Kapilvastu and is attracting a large number of foreign tourists.

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“By displaying these Buddhist relics in Kapilvastu, Buddhist tourists from India and abroad will be attracted to Kapilvastu out of faith and devotion, which will lead to the development of the area from the tourism point of view and will create employment opportunities at the local level,” the Chief Minister wrote.

He further pointed out that Buddhist devotees from across the world will be able to connect with these heritage sites of India both spiritually and culturally.

Six important holy sites related to the life of Lord Buddha are located in Uttar Pradesh, officials said. It is believed that Buddha spent 29 years of his early life in Kapilvastu which then was the capital of the Shakya kingdom.

In 1898, William Claxton Peppe, a British civil engineer, discovered a stone urn containing rubies, sapphires, topaz, corals, and crystals, along with the Buddha’s relics while excavating a stupa in Piprahwa.

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After being brought back from Hong Kong to India in July 2025, the relics were kept at the National Museum in New Delhi.

Nearly a month ago, Leader of Opposition in Uttar Pradesh Assembly Mata Prasad Pandey during his address in the House had also asked CM Adityanath to make efforts to bring back the relics to the state, citing the example of a temple in Kandy, Sri Lanka, where the tooth relic of Buddha attracts a large number of pilgrims and tourists.

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