Why in the News?

The Union Culture Ministry has successfully halted the auction of the sacred ‘Piprahwa’ Buddhist relics by Hong Kong.

Piprahwa Relics of Buddha

About the Piprahwa Relics:

The Piprahwa relics were discovered in 1898 by William Claxton Peppe, an English engineer, during an excavation in Siddharthnagar district, UP, near the Nepal border.
The site is believed to be ancient Kapilavastu, the capital of the Shakya republic, where Prince Siddhartha (later the Buddha) lived before his renunciation.
Peppe excavated a stupa and unearthed a large stone coffer buried beneath it.
The coffer contained bone fragments (believed to be Buddha’s cremated remains), caskets of soapstone and crystal, a sandstone coffer, and several gold ornaments and gemstones.
The British Crown claimed the relics under the Indian Treasure Trove Act of 1878.
A majority of the artifacts — about 1,800 pearls, rubies, topaz, sapphires, and gold sheets — were transferred to the Indian Museum in Kolkata.

After the Buddha’s death (Mahaparinirvana), his cremated relics were divided among 8 kingdoms and a Brahmin named Drona, who coordinated their distribution.
Each recipient built a Stupa to enshrine their share of the relics, creating important pilgrimage sites and early centers of Buddhist worship.
The 9 stupas were located in Rajagriha, Vaishali, Kapilavastu, Allakappa, Ramagrama, Vethadipa, Pava, Kushinagar, and Pippalivana.
Emperor Ashoka (3rd century BCE) redistributed the relics from these stupas into thousands of new stupas across his empire.
The stupa at Ramagrama is unique because it is believed to remain untouched and still holds the original relics.
A typical early Buddhist stupa included a hemispherical mound (anda), a square railing (harmika), a central pillar (yashti) with umbrellas (chatra), and a path for circumambulation (pradakshinapatha).

[UPSC 2023] With reference to ancient India, consider the following statements:

1. The concept of Stupa is Buddhist in origin.

2. Stupa was generally a repository of relics.

3. Stupa was a votive and commemorative structure in Buddhist tradition. How many of the statements given above are correct?

Options: (a) Only one (b) Only two* (c) All three (d) None