PM Modi: Buddha’s Relics Part of India’s Heritage

 New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the wisdom and path shown by Bhagwan Buddha belong to all of humanity and his sacred relics are not merely artefacts but part of India's revered heritage.

Speaking after inaugurating the grand international exposition of the sacred Piprahwa relics, which were discovered in 1898, in the national capital, Modi said Bhagwan Buddha belongs to everyone and unites all the people.

Referring to sacred ancient gems and bone fragments linked to the Buddha, Modi said, "For India, the sacred relics of Bhagwan Buddha are not merely artefacts; they are a part of our revered heritage and an inseparable part of our civilisation."

The Prime Minister said that the sacred Piprahwa relics travelled to different countries with significant Buddhist populations, including Vietnam, Thailand and Russia, where waves of faith and devotion arose, and people turned up in huge numbers to pay homage.

"This shared heritage of Lord Buddha is proof that India is not connected merely through politics, diplomacy and economy, but through deeper bonds of emotions, faith and spirituality," Modi said and recalled that the sacred relics were returning to India after more than 125 years at the intervention of the government and the Godrej Group, which together stopped them from being auctioned off in Hong Kong last May.

The Prime Minister said that India is not only the custodian of Lord Buddha's sacred relics but also the living carrier of his tradition.

Striking a personal note, Modi said that his birthplace, Vadnagar in Gujarat, is a major centre of Buddhist studies and Sarnath, near Varanasi, where Lord Buddha delivered his first sermon, is his karmabhoomi. He represents the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat in Parliament.

Modi said that before being in government, he travelled as a pilgrim to Buddhist sites, and as Prime Minister, he has had the privilege of visiting Buddhist pilgrimage centres across the world. He recalled his visits to Lumbini in Nepal, To-ji temple and Kinkaku-ji in Japan, the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an, China and the Gandan Monastery in Mongolia.

Modi said that his visit to Jaya Sri Mahabodhi in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, was an experience of connecting with the tradition sown by Emperor Ashoka, Bhikkhu Mahinda and Sanghamitra.

The Prime Minister noted that his visits to Wat Pho in Thailand and the Buddha Tooth Relic temple in Singapore further deepened his understanding of the impact of Lord Buddha's teachings.

Modi said that he made a point to carry saplings of the Bodhi tree to places of Buddhist pilgrim centres across the world.

"One can imagine the profound message for humanity when a Bodhi tree stands in the botanical garden of Hiroshima, a city devastated by the atomic bomb," Modi said.

The Prime Minister said that his government is making efforts to ensure that Buddhist heritage reaches the next generations in a natural way and added that the Global Buddhist Summit and international events like Vesak and Ashadha Purnima are driven by this very thought.

Modi said that his government had granted classical language status to Pali to make the language in which the Buddha delivered his sermons more accessible to the people.

"This will make it easier to understand and explain the Dhamma in its original essence and also strengthen research connected to the Buddhist tradition," Mr Modi said.

The Piprahwa relics hold a central place in the archaeological study of early Buddhism. The relics are among the earliest and most historically significant deposits directly connected to Bhagwan Buddha. Archaeological evidence associates the Piprahwa site with ancient Kapilavastu, widely identified as the place where Bhagwan Buddha spent his early life before renunciation.