Overview
- The Maha Bodhi Society of India, Sarnath Centre, is staging the three-day exposition in collaboration with the Venerable Vietnamese Sangha and devotees from Hanoi.
- The relics, ordinarily shown only on Buddha Purnima and Kartik Purnima, will be unveiled from beneath the shrine’s golden Buddha and re-enshrined on November 5.
- Organisers expect monks and pilgrims from across India and countries including Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Nepal and Japan.
- The enshrined relics are presented as over 2,600 years old, with one unearthed in ancient Gandhara and gifted in 1956 and the other found at Nagarjunakonda in an inscribed stone casket.
- Uttar Pradesh officials highlight sustained growth in Buddhist tourism, citing visits rising from about 28 lakh in 2016 to over 84 lakh in 2024, with Sarnath drawing around 5 lakh visitors in the first half of 2025.