NEW DELHI: A collection of ancient gems linked to the Buddha’s remains has been repatriated to India and will go on display to the public, after Delhi intervened in a planned Sotheby’s auction of the relics.
The Piprahwa Gems, named after the town in what is now the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, were taken by a British colonial engineer named William Claxton Peppe after he dug it in 1898.
The collection of more than 300 delicate gems is more than 2,000 years old and was believed to have been found with the bodily relics of the Buddha in northern India, near the border with Nepal.
It was originally scheduled to be auctioned by Sotheby’s in Hong Kong in May, but the sale was postponed following a threat of legal action by the Indian government, who demanded the return of the jewels.
The gems were finally returned to their “rightful home of India” on Wednesday, according to a statement by the Indian Culture Ministry.
“The return of the Piprahwa Gems is a matter of great pride for every Indian. This is one of the most significant instances of repatriation of our lost heritage,” Indian Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh said.
In a legal notice to Sotheby’s in May, the Indian Culture Ministry said the relics were “inalienable religious and cultural heritage of India, and the global Buddhist community,” adding that their sale violates Indian and international laws, as well as UN conventions.
The relics were repatriated to India through a “public-private partnership” between the Indian government and the Mumbai-based Indian conglomerate, Godrej Industries Group, which reportedly acquired the jewels.
“We are deeply honored to contribute to this historic moment. The Piprahwa gems are not just artifacts — they are timeless symbols of peace, compassion and the shared heritage of humanity,” Pirojsha Godrej, executive vice chairperson of Godrej Industries Group, said in a statement.
The collection will be “formally unveiled during a special ceremony and placed on public display,” according to the Indian Culture Ministry.
“Through negotiation and intervention, the relics were successfully repatriated to India after 127 years,” Dr. Pranshu Samdarshi, a cultural historian and assistant professor at Nalanda University in Bihar, told Arab News.
“The relics reaffirm India’s central place in the Buddhist world. This successful recovery adds to a growing list of repatriated artifacts, including over 600 illegally possessed antiquities retrieved from countries such as the US, France, and Australia,” he said.
“The importance of the Piprahwa relics as a symbol of India’s Buddhist legacy and its cultural diplomacy is uncontested.”
Ancient gems linked to the Buddha return to India
https://arab.news/5kqd7
Ancient gems linked to the Buddha return to India
- The relics were originally set to be sold at a Sotheby’s auction in May
- The collection of more than 300 delicate gems is over 2,000 years old
Neighbors of alleged Bondi gunmen shocked by deadly rampage
- Local media named the two suspected gunmen as father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram
SYDNEY: Like many people in Sydney, Glenn Nelson spent his Sunday evening watching television coverage of a deadly shooting on the city’s iconic Bondi Beach.
But stepping onto his front porch, flanked by neatly trimmed box hedges, he saw armed police cordoning off the street before raiding the house opposite — home of the two suspects who are alleged to have killed 15 people in Australia’s worst mass shooting in decades.
“I thought, ‘Okay, I’ll catch the rest in the morning,’ the next thing, the drama is out the front door,” he said in an interview on Monday, shortly after mowing his lawn.
Nelson and other neighbors said the family living across the street kept to themselves, but seemed like any other in the suburb of Bonnyrigg, a working-class, well-kept enclave with an ethnically diverse population around 36 km (22 miles) by road from Sydney’s central business district.
Local media named the two suspected gunmen as father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram.
Police have not named the suspects, but they said the older man, 50, was killed at the scene, taking the number of dead to 16, while his 24-year-old son was in a critical condition in hospital.
Police said the son was known to authorities and the father had a firearms license.
The Sydney Morning Herald spoke to a woman on Sunday evening who identified herself as the wife and mother of the suspects.
She said the two men had told her they were going on a fishing trip before heading to Bondi and opening fire on an event celebrating the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.
“I always see the man and the woman and the son,” said 66-year-old Lemanatua Fatu, who lives across the street.
“They are normal people.”
Until Sunday’s shooting, Bonnyrigg was an otherwise unremarkable neighborhood typical of Sydney’s sprawling Western suburbs.
It has significant Vietnamese and Chinese communities, along with many residents who were born in Iraq, Cambodia and Laos, according to government data.
The town center, a strip mall with a large adjoining car park, is flanked by a mosque, a Buddhist temple and several churches.
“It’s a quiet area, very quiet,” Fatu said. “And people mind their own business, doing their own thing — until now.”
Not much is currently known about the suspects’ backgrounds.
A Facebook post from an Arabic and Qur'an studies institute appearing to show one of the men was removed on Monday and no one answered the door at an address listed for it in the neighboring suburb of Heckenberg.
On Monday afternoon, as police took down their cordon, several people re-entered the house, covering their faces. They made no comment to the media and did not answer the door.
