Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement in a special statement in Thailand on Thursday, saying that India had sent relics of Lord Buddha, which were discovered in Gujarat’s Aravalli in the 1960s, during a meeting with Prime Minister Phayongtarn Shinawatra in Bangkok.
Describing the cultural ties between the two countries, Prime Minister Modi shared how India had sent relics of Lord Buddha to Thailand last year. “Last year, the holy relics of the Buddha were sent from India to Thailand. It is a great joy that over 4 million devotees have had the opportunity to have a glimpse,” he said.
In 2024, the relics of the Buddha, along with the relics of his disciples Arahant Sariputta and Arahant Maha Moggallana, were sent from India and exhibited in four cities in Thailand from February 22 to March 18.
Normally housed in the National Museum in New Delhi, these holy relics rarely leave India for public display. This is the first time in recorded history that the relics of the Buddha have been enshrined together with the relics of Sariputta and Maha Moggallana from Sanchi, Ambassador Nagesh Singh wrote in a statement issued by the Indian Embassy in Thailand.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Modi announced, “I am pleased to announce that the relics of Lord Buddha, which were found in the Aravalli hills of Gujarat in 1960, will also be sent to Thailand for darshan.”
According to the Gujarat Tourism website, the relics were found in the Devni Mori area, which contains the ruins of a Buddhist monastery dating back to the 3rd-4th centuries AD.
“Excavation of the stupa revealed an inscribed casket containing the relics of the Buddha. The inscription clearly states that the casket contains the physical relics of the Buddha,” the website said.
Earlier, the display of relics of the Buddha from India to Thailand was carried out in 1995-96 to mark the 50th anniversary of the accession to the throne of King Rama IX. The relics of Arahants Sariputta and Maha Moggallana were brought to India in 1952 by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, then president of the Maha Bodhi Society, as part of a Dhamma pilgrimage to several countries after India’s independence from England.
Prime Minister Modi highlighted the long-standing ties between India and Thailand, which were evident at the Maha Kumbh earlier this year.
“Our ancient ties were also visible in India during the Maha Kumbh. More than 600 Buddhist devotees from Thailand and several other countries attended this spiritual and cultural gathering. The Maha Kumbh gave a message of world peace…”
Prime Minister Modi is in Thailand to attend the sixth BIMSTEC summit.
The summit, scheduled to be held on Friday, marks a significant regional engagement between India and its neighbours in the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) grouping.
