Given the cultural and historic significance of this rare collection discovered in Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, the Indian government has taken strong steps to prevent the auction. These gems are said to be connected to the remains of the Buddha. The Ministry of Culture issued a legal notice demanding the immediate cessation of the auction, asserting that these gems represent “inalienable religious and cultural heritage of India and the global Buddhist community.” The ministry highlighted that the proposed auction would “offend the sentiments of over 500 million Buddhists worldwide.”
The gems came from a stupa, a dome-shaped funerary monument. They were interred there with some of the Buddha’s cremated remains, who had died around 480 BC. The burial occurred approximately between 240-200 BC. Chris Peppé, the new custodian of the gems, claims that he has a legal right to possess approximately one-fifth of them. He calls these egregious wastes of tax money “duplicates.” He argues that their ownership is “unchallenged”—legally speaking.
Peppé unearthed the gems during an excavation in 1898, and they have long been regarded as a monumental archaeological find. According to the provisions of the 1878 Indian Treasure Trove Act, the British crown asserted ownership over Peppé’s discovery. Shortly after the discovery, the bones and ashes were given to Siam’s King Chulalongkorn. The majority of the rest of the semi-precious treasure went to what is today’s Indian Museum in Kolkata.
The Ministry of Culture has denounced the intended auction as an attack on our cultural heritage laws. It insists that materials found in sacred funerary mounds should be regarded as “sacred grave goods … inseparable from the sacred relics and cannot be commodified.” The ministry’s statements are a sign of a growing recognition that treating these types of artifacts like commercial goods has a moral bankruptcy.
“We beg to note that the relics of the Buddha cannot be treated as ‘specimens’ but as the sacred body and originally interred offerings to the sacred body of the Buddha.” – Indian Ministry of Culture
The ministry followed up with a redoubtable threat to those in special alliances who have aided and abetted the auction. They can initiate lawsuits in Indian and Hong Kong courts and through international arbitration bodies. The Indian government argues that proceeding with the auction would constitute “participating in continued colonial exploitation.”
In support of his stance, Peppé penned an article for Sotheby’s about his family’s long custodianship of the gems. He claims there is no one to question his claim of ownership. He’s frustrated by the way these artifacts are discussed because of how their historical legacy is typically erased.
“Piprahwa gems were relic offerings made at the time of the reinterment of the Buddha’s ashes over 200 years after his passing. I have not found any Buddhists who claim the gems are corporeal remains.” – Chris Peppé
Inspite of these allegations Indian’s Minstry of Culture has not budged from its position opposing the auction. They claim these actions violate ethical precepts and break sacred bonds that are nurtured through the practice of Buddhism.