India wants to stop selling jewelry connected to Buddha –

The Indian government has threatened to take legal action against Sotheby’s in Hong Kong, unless they stop a coming auction of jewelry related to the remains of the Buddha and have requested their return to India.

The auction, which will take place on Wednesday, Including precious stones that were buried With Buddha’s bone fragments more than a hundred years ago.

The Indian Ministry of Culture has said that the sale “violates Indian and international laws and UN conventions”, and asked for the jewelry must be treated as sacred. The sale has also been convicted by various Buddhists and artificial scholars worldwide.

The BBC has contacted Sotheby’s for a response.

The Indian Ministry posted a letter that sent it to Sotheby’s and Chris Peppé, the great -grandson of William Kaxton Peppé, who dug up the relics in 1898, Instagram.

The post stated that Sotheby’s responded to the legal notification and assured that the case will get its “full attention”.

The post said that Peppé misses “misses” to sell the remains and accused the auction house of participating in ‘continuous colonial exploitation’ by facilitating the sale.

William Kaxton Peppé was an English estate manager who is a stupa babysitter in Piprahwa, just south of Lumbini, the religious birthplace of Buddha. He discovered remains registered and inaugurated almost 2000 years ago.

The findings include almost 1,800 precious stones, including rubies, topaz, sapphires and gold plates with a pattern stored in a brick room. This site is now in the Noord -Indian state Uttar Pradesh.

William Peppé handed over the precious stones, relics and relics to the colonial Indian government, from where the bone religi were going 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, said Chris Peppé. (The notes of Sotheby say that Peppé could retain about one fifth of the discovery.)

The Indian Ministry has said that the labeling of the jewels such as “duplicates” is misleading and that these remains are the “inalienable religious and cultural heritage” of India.

The jewelry “cannot be treated as specimens”, but as the “holy body and originally buried offer to the holy body” of the Buddha, the post said.

The ministry has also questioned the custody of the jewelry.

It said that the sellers who call themselves the managers of the precious stones do not have the right to “alienate or abused it actively, which calls it an” special heritage of humanity “.

The statement also stated a decade old report stating that the relics in a shoe box were forgotten, which suggests that storage also included “safe maintenance”.

The Indian ministry has demanded a public apology from Sotheby’s and Peppé. It has also asked them to make all the records completely known to display the ownership of the remains that are still in their possession or by them.

The Ministry said that not complying with their requirements would lead to legal proceedings in India and Hong Kong for “violation of the Cultural Heritage Act”.

It also threatened to launch a “public campaign” that emphasized the role of Sotheby in perpetuating “colonial injustice”.

Earlier, Chris Peppé had told the BBC that the family looked at the remains, but all options presented problems and an auction seemed to be the “fairest and most transparent way to transfer these relics to Buddhists”.

Chris Peppé has written that the jewels of his overcame were passed on to his cousin and came to him in 2013 and two other cousins.

Over the past six years, the precious stones have shown in large exhibitions, including one in the with in 2023. The Peppé family has also launched a website to “share our research”.

But the Indian ministry said in his statement that the beaver of the jewelry is “committed through publicity and exhibition”.

Follow BBC News India up Instagram” YouTube, Twitter And Facebook.