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Relics from the Piprahwa stupa

ca. 240–200 BCE
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
Before his death, the Buddha instructed his followers to collect and enshrine his cremation remains in stupas, “like those of kings,” beginning the cult of relic worship in Buddhism. The relics gathered from the ash, described as “like jasmine buds, washed pearls, and [particles of] gold,” are understood to be magically formed out of the fire. In 1898 the precious objects seen here were excavated from the largest reliquary deposit ever recorded, by the English estate manager and engineer William Claxton Peppé (1852–1936). An inscription on one of the reliquaries named the corporeal remains as those of the Buddha himself—the first such discovery in India. The bone relics were presented in 1899 to King Rama V of Thailand, then the only surviving Buddhist monarch. The bulk of the offerings were sent to the Indian Museum in Kolkata, where they remain today. The colonial government allowed Peppé to retain 331 “duplicate items,” which remain with his descendants and are shown here.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Relics from the Piprahwa stupa
  • Period: Maurya
  • Date: ca. 240–200 BCE
  • Culture: India, Piprahwa Great Stupa, Siddharthnagar district, Uttar Pradesh
  • Medium: Gold, semiprecious stones, rock crystal, pearls, and shell
  • Dimensions: Box A: H. 7 7/8 in. (20 cm); W. 5 7/8 in. (15 cm); D. 13/16 in. (5.1 cm)
    Box B: H. 7 7/8 in. (20 cm); W. 5 7/8 in. (15 cm); D. 13/16 in. (5.1 cm)
    C, in wood display case: H. 17 11/16 in. (45 cm.); W. 17 11/16 (45 cm.); D. 3 15/16 in. (10 cm.)
  • Classification: Jewelry
  • Credit Line: Lent by a private collection
  • Rights and Reproduction: Photo by lender
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

Audio

Cover Image for 673. Relics from the Piprahwa Stupa

673. Relics from the Piprahwa Stupa

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JOHN GUY: In this exhibition we’ve been very privileged to present a group of objects which are of enormous importance to practicing Buddhists, and have great sanctity, because of their association with the Buddha himself.

NARRATOR: These objects are known as relics. When the Buddha passed away, his ashes and bones were gathered, divided, and shared among eight prominent rulers of North India who placed them in stupas to honor him.

JOHN GUY:We have an assortment of objects: gemstones, coral, rock crystal, gold and silver-trimmed flower motifs, some 320 tiny objects, presented in three framed ensembles which were all part of an excavation conducted in 1898.

NARRATOR: Inspired by excavations at the time, an English estate manager, William Peppé, unearthed these relics from a mound on a private estate near the northern border of India.

JOHN GUY: He found an extraordinary, large stone coffer in which he found a whole series of reliquaries, containers in which offerings were made. One of the relic containers, had an inscription indicating that the bone and ash were those of the Buddha himself. The first such claim ever to be made based on an inscription and, of course, caused a sensation.

NARRATOR: Corporeal relics, or bodily remains of the Buddha, have the highest sanctity among practicing Buddhists.

JOHN GUY: These discoveries were of enormous importance in the history of the rediscovery of Buddhism in the late nineteenth-century in India. Buddhism had ceased to be a living religion in India by this time. It had continued in many other places, but in India it was largely a spent force for more than a thousand years.