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Journalism of Courage
Tucked away in a corner on a busy road in South Delhi’s Mehrauli, the park looks like any other urban park, save for the massive statue of 12th century ruler Prithviraj Chauhan perched atop a recently constructed hall.
In the days to come, this nondescript 12th-century monument, which contains the ruins of the first city of Delhi — Rai Pithora — will make its mark in public memory for another reason: as the spot where Lord Buddha’s Piprahwa relics will be exhibited for the first time since they were excavated from ancient Kapilvastu nearly 130 years ago.
Likely to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi this month, the Qila Rai Pithora exhibition, being put up by the Ministry of Culture, will boast yet another first — the Piprahwa jewels will be displayed alongside the Buddhist relics in possession of Kolkata-based Indian Museum and objects of similar significance from various other museums, including New Delhi’s National Museum.
The Piprahwa relics, comprising gems and jewels, were discovered in 1898 by William Claxton Peppe during the excavation of a stupa in Uttar Pradesh’s Piprahwa village, in present-day Siddharthnagar district. In possession of his great-grandson Chris Peppe, the relics were repatriated to India recently, after their scheduled auction at Sotheby’s Hong Kong was stopped.
“The exhibition will reunite, for the first time, the Piprahwa relics, which were taken to the United Kingdom in the late 19th century, with Lord Buddha’s Piprahwa relics housed in the collections of the National Museum and the Indian Museum,” Ministry officials tell The Indian Express.
Considered sacred in Buddhist heritage, the Piprahwa relics, deposited by the Sakyas, Lord Buddha’s kin, also comprise his bone fragments, crystal caskets and gold ornaments. While the repatriated Peppe collection holds 349 precious gem relics and gold objects, Indian Museum’s collection includes 221 gem relics, six reliquaries (a container with the relics of a holy person) and one coffer.
The gem relics, which feature intricately carved lotus flowers, leaves and the Buddhist Triratna (three jewels) symbol, have been crafted from a variety of semi-precious stones and metals, including carnelian, amethyst, topaz, garnet, coral, crystal, shell and gold, among others.
In June this year, The Indian Express had reported about the Ministry’s plans for an exposition of these relics.
While telling the story of Lord Buddha’s life and tracing his footsteps in India through historical and archaeological objects at the Mehrauli venue, the Ministry will also focus on repatriation of India’s cultural heritage
The Sotheby’s auction was stopped in the nick of time, via multiple legal notices by the Ministry. For two months, the Ministry worked discreetly with Sotheby’s and the Peppe family to get these relics back to India from Hong Kong, a territory with a huge Chinese influence.
Devised by the Ministry, the return of these jewels has become a new model in heritage repatriation — wherein a public-private partnership was allowed for their journey back home. Philanthropist Pirojsha Godrej had stepped in to acquire these jewels at an undisclosed cost.
“This (the reparation of these jewels) was not only a testament to India’s cultural diplomacy, but also a significant step in honouring the rich heritage of Buddhism. The return of these treasured artefacts, together with the gems already preserved at the Indian Museum in Kolkata, reinforce India’s role as the guardian of Buddhist culture,” says a senior Ministry official.
At the six-month-long exhibition, which will take place in a 1,013-square-metre space inside the monument, the “AA” antiquities — a classification of items of exceptionally high historical, cultural and religious value under the Indian law — will remain in temperature-controlled conditions and surrounded by security 24/7.
Though the removal and sale of “AA” antiquities are strictly forbidden under Indian laws, many have been discovered in the international auction markets over the years.
As The Indian Express walked inside the Mehrauli venue recently, the space was abuzz with hectic activity.
Inside the main hall, over which the statue of Prithviraj Chauhan is perched, a stupa is being recreated as a centrepiece. This centrepiece will hold the relics and key idols — from the Peppe collection and the museums — symbolising their return to the place where they belonged once upon a time, a stupa in India.
Divided into nine sections, the exhibition aims to unite archaeology, diplomacy, spirituality, art, art history and philosophy. While the Piprahwa relics will be the prime objects, they will be complemented by sculptures, terracotta, paintings, manuscripts, inscriptions and ritual objects.
A wide range of materials and techniques, dating from the Mauryan period to the contemporary times, will showcase the continued artistic development of Buddhism.
Over 100 original objects and digital reproductions from various museums will also be showcased at this exhibition from the National Museum, the Indian Museum, the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in New Delhi, the Kapilavastu Museum in Uttar Pradesh’s Siddharthnagar district, and the Nagarjunakonda Museum, located on an island in Andhra Pradesh’s Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir.
The exhibition’s curatorial team will comprise subject experts, art historians, archaeologists and museum professionals from various institutions, including the National Museum, the Department of History of Art at the Indian Institute of Heritage, the Archaeological Survey of India and the International Buddhist Confederations.
A special section will be devoted to talking about the various antiquities that have been brought back to India through diplomatic efforts by the government over the last one decade. An idol of Lord Ganesha, which came back to the country from the United States recently after being smuggled abroad, will be used for this section of the exhibit.
