Buddha’s holy jewels go to auction

On Wednesday, a cache of beautiful jewels will be connected to the mortal remains of the Buddha, which have been praised as one of the most amazing archaeological finds of the modern era, under the hammer in Sotheby’s in Hong Kong.

For more than a century, these remains, dug up from a dusty hill in Noord -India in 1898, largely unseen, washed by a private British collection.

While the precious stones are preparing to leave custody over their keepers, they not only stir the appetite of collectors, but also some unrest.

They come from a shimmering treasure of nearly 1,800 pearls, rubies, topaz, sapphire and shaped golden sheets, a glimpse of a glimpse of an eyes in a brick room near the birthplace of the Buddha in the current Uttar Pradesh in India.

Their discovery – in addition to bone fragments identified by a registered urn as belonging to the Buddha itself – echoed through the world of archeology. Nicolas Chow, chairman of Sotheby’s Asia and worldwide head of Asian art, believes that this is “one of the most extraordinary archaeological discoveries of all time”.

But because these remains are now confronted with the sparkle of the auction room, experts tell the BBC that a question is heavily: can the sale of treasures be considered so intimate in the holy past of India as ethical?

In 1898, William Kaxton Peppé, an English estate manager, dug up a stupa in Piprahwa, just south of Lumbini, where the Buddha is supposed to have been born. He discovered remains registered and inaugurated almost 2000 years ago.

Historians agree that these remains are intact until that time, are the heritage of both the Sakya Clan trees and the Buddhists worldwide. The bone reliks have since been spread among countries such as Thailand, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, where they are still being honored.

“Are the remains of the Buddha a merchandise that can be treated as a work of art to be sold on the market?” Wonderen Naman Ahuja, a Delhi -based art historian. “And because they are not, how is the seller ethically authorized to auction them?

“Since the seller is called the ‘custodian’, I would like to ask – the keeper on behalf of who?

Chris Peppé, great -grandson of William, told the BBC that the family looked at donating the relics, but all options presented problems and an auction seemed to be the “fairest and most transparent way to transfer these relics to Buddhists”.

Julian King, the international specialist of Sotheby and Het Head, Himalayan Art, New York told the BBC that the auction house had made a thorough assessment of the jewelry.

“As is the case with important items and collection objects that are offered for sale at Sotheby’s, we have performed the required due diligence, including with regard to authenticity and origin, legality and other considerations in accordance with our policy and industrial standards for artworks and treasures,” King said.

Ashley Thompson, from Soas University of London, and curator Conan Cheong, both experts in Southeast Asian art, have more questions. In a joint statement they told the BBC: “Other ethical questions asked by the sale are: should human remains be traded? And who can decide what human remains are or not? For many Buddhist practitioners around the world, the gems that are for sale are part of the bones and ashes.”

The sale of the remains has also given rise to concern among Buddhist leaders.

“The Buddha teaches us not to take the possessions of other people without permission,” Amal Abeyawardene of London told British Mahabodhi Society, at the BBC. “Historical archives indicate that the Sakyamuni clan got custody of these remains, as the Buddha came from their community. Their wish was that these remains in addition to decorations, such as these gems, were stored so that they can always be honored by the followers of the Buddha.”

Chris Peppé has written That the jewels of his overcame went to his cousin and came to him in 2013 and two other cousins. Then he started their discovery by investigating his great -grandfather.

The television director and film editor, based in Los Angeles, wrote that he had found 1898 newspaper reports – from Reuters to the New York Tribune – who announced the find of Buddha’s remains.

“The colonization of India by the British had been a source of any cultural shame for me (and remains), but, amidst the treasury who pulled their finds back to England, there were also people who focused on pursuing knowledge,” writes Chris Peppé.

He noted that his research revealed a lot about his ancestors he had rejected as “Familiar Victorians from a gone era”.

“I heard that Willie Peppé’s first wife chose to travel through India for her honeymoon and loved the country and its culture. Unfortunately she died of a non -specific disease. I heard that my grandmother was furious about the country laws that applied to Indian women.

“And I heard that the excavation of the Stupa was an attempt by Willie Peppé to offer work to his tenants farmers who had fallen victim to the famine of 1897.”

He writes the “technical diagrams of slopes and pulleys of his great -grandfather, suggests that he was also a trained engineer who could not resist a project”.

William Peppé handed over the precious stones, relics and relics to the colonial Indian government: the bone relics went to the Buddhist king of Siam (Rama V). Five Relikwie – turns, a stone box and most other remains were sent to the Indian Museum in Kolkata – then the Imperial Museum of Calcutta.

Only a small “part of duplicates”, which he was allowed to keep, stayed in the Peppé family, he notes. (Sotheby’s notes Suppose Peppé was allowed to keep about a fifth of the discovery.)

Sources told the BBC that the auction house regards the “duplicates” as original items considered to be a surplus for the donated items, which the “Indian government Peppé allowed”.

Over the past six years, the precious stones can be seen in large exhibitions, including one in the 2023. The Peppé family also has one website To “share our research”.

Some scientists claim that Buddha -relikwies should never be treated as market products.

“De veiling van de Sotheby transformeert deze zeer heilige materialen in verkoopbare objecten, in voortzetting van daden van koloniaal geweld die hen uit een stupa haalden en ze ‘edelstenen’ en ‘objecten van belang voor Europeanen’ noemden, waardoor een valse verdeling werd gecreëerd met de as- en botfragmenten waarmee ze werden ingewijd, ‘zeggen Thompson en Cheong.

Chris Peppé told the BBC that he had visited in all monasteries “do not consider Buddhists as physical relics”.

“A few Buddhist academics at Western universities have recently offered a complicated, factual,

Peppé said that the family “looked at donation (of the relics) at temples and museums and had caused them all different problems during closer control”.

“An auction seems to be the fairest and most transparent way to transfer these remains to Buddhists and we are convinced that Sotheby’s will achieve that.”

Some also point to The Koh-I-Noorseized by the British East India Company and now part of the crown jewels, with many Indians consider it stolen. Should the jewelry of the Buddha be the next?

“Repatriation, I believe, is rarely necessary,” says Ahuja. “Such rare and holy remains that are unique and that define the cultural history of a country, however, deserve the exceptional attention of the government.”