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Modi Inaugurates Delhi Exhibition Reuniting Piprahwa Buddha Relics After 127 Years

Curated by ASI with the National Museum at Rai Pithora, the show follows a halted Sotheby’s sale, with Godrej funding the gems’ return.

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India has recovered a set of relics with ties to early Buddhism more than a century after they were removed from the country during the colonial period
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India's Minister of Culture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat performed a ritual in July to mark the the repatriation of the Piprahwa relics, which have since been displayed in public at an exhibition in New Delhi

Overview

  • The unveiling brings the recently repatriated Piprahwa gems into public view alongside relics from national collections and materials from later excavations, presented together for the first time.
  • The Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction planned in May 2025 was stopped by an Indian Culture Ministry order, after which Godrej Industries acquired the Peppé family gems in partnership with the government for public loan.
  • Curators assembled 349 gemstones, reliquaries, a sandstone coffer and bone fragments linked by inscription to the Buddha, supported by immersive films, digital reconstructions and a Sanchi‑inspired central model.
  • The venue is a temporary museum inside Delhi’s Qila Rai Pithora, prepared with stabilisation work and ticketed entry, opening to the public from January 4 for a multi‑month run.
  • Officials frame the exposition as a repatriation milestone and a platform for Buddhist heritage, adding returned pieces such as a US‑returned apsara, a Kabul panel and a plaque from Tibet.