Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate “The Light and The Lotus: Relics of the Awakened One”, a major exhibition of sacred Buddhist relics, in New Delhi on Saturday (January 3). The exhibition will present the Piprahwa Gems, a collection of highly revered antiquities associated with the Historical Buddha that were taken out of India in 1898 and returned to the country last year, according to the Ministry of Culture.
The exhibition is being held at the Rai Pithora Cultural Complex and will open to the public from Sunday. In addition to the Piprahwa relics, the exhibition will feature an immersive display of 88 antiquities, a repatriation gallery documenting the return of cultural treasures, and a detailed model of the original excavation site.
The relics, which were found buried in reliquaries alongside corporeal remains believed to be of Gautama Buddha, have been described by Sotheby’s as “among the most extraordinary archaeological discoveries of all time.”
What Are the Piprahwa Gems?
The Piprahwa antiquities consist of 349 gemstones discovered in 1898 by William Claxton Peppé, an English estate manager, during the excavation of a Buddhist stupa at Piprahwa, located in present-day Siddharthnagar district of Uttar Pradesh near the Nepal border.
The excavation was conducted at a site widely identified as ancient Kapilavastu, the capital of the Shakya republic where Prince Siddhartha Gautama is believed to have spent his early life. The find included bone fragments, ash, soapstone and crystal caskets, a sandstone coffer, and a vast array of offerings such as pearls, rubies, sapphires, topaz, and patterned gold sheets.
Under the Indian Treasure Trove Act of 1878, the British Crown claimed the discovery. Most of the collection—comprising nearly 1,800 pearls and precious objects—was transferred to what is now the Indian Museum in Kolkata. However, around one-fifth of the finds, including duplicate gems, remained with Peppé.
The sacred bones and ash believed to be of the Buddha were later donated by Viceroy Elgin to King Rama V of Siam (modern-day Thailand).
Auction Controversy and Legal Battle
The portion of the gems retained by the Peppé family was passed down for generations and was put up for auction by Chris Peppé in 2013. In May 2025, Sotheby’s Hong Kong listed the collection for auction, estimating a sale price of over $100 million, triggering widespread concern in India and among global Buddhist communities.
On May 5, 2025, the Ministry of Culture issued a legal notice to Sotheby’s and the Peppé family demanding the immediate halt of the auction and the repatriation of the relics. The notice argued that the artefacts constituted the inalienable religious and cultural heritage of India and the global Buddhist community, and that their sale violated Indian law, international conventions, and United Nations cultural heritage frameworks.
The Archaeological Survey of India also approached the Consulate General of India in Hong Kong, requesting urgent intervention to stop the auction.
India’s legal claim faced complications, as the excavation had taken place on land allotted to Peppé by the British government and the artefacts were removed from India decades before the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972 came into force. Despite this grey area, Indian authorities coordinated with Hong Kong’s Financial Investigation Unit to emphasise the ethical and legal concerns surrounding the sale.
Role of Pirojsha Godrej
A crucial breakthrough came when Indian industrialist Pirojsha Godrej purchased the entire collection of 349 gemstones for an undisclosed amount. Godrej has agreed to loan a large portion of the collection to the National Museum for five years and to allow the full collection to be displayed for three months upon its arrival in India.
This arrangement enabled the return of the relics without requiring the government to engage in a commercial transaction, an approach that helped avoid ethical and legal complexities.
The inauguration of “The Light and The Lotus” marks a significant moment in India’s efforts to reclaim and preserve its cultural and spiritual heritage, reaffirming the country’s commitment to protecting artefacts of profound importance to both national history and the global Buddhist community.
