Days before a rare set of sacred Buddhist relics was set to go under the hammer at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, the Government of India has stepped in with an urgent attempt to halt the sale.
Known as the Piprahwa Gems, the lot includes more than 300 artifacts believed to have been buried alongside the bones of the historical Buddha over 2,000 years ago. Unearthed in northern India in 1898, the relics have since been exhibited at leading institutions in New York, Singapore, and Seoul.
The sale is scheduled for 7 May at 10:30 a.m. as a dedicated single-lot auction, with bidding expected to start at HK$10 million. But the offering has drawn sharp criticism from scholars, Buddhist communities, and, most notably, the Indian government, which has formally demanded that Sotheby’s cancel the auction.
In a public statement issued on 5 May, India’s Ministry of Culture asserted that the sale violates domestic and international laws, as well as multiple United Nations conventions. Legal notices were sent to Sotheby’s Hong Kong and the consignor, requesting the immediate cessation of the auction.
Lot 1 | The Piprahwa Gems of the Historical Buddha | Property from the descendants of William Claxton Peppé
Mauryan Empire, Ashokan era, circa 240-200 BC
Central Case: 45 x 16 x 36.9 cm
Left and Right Cases: 14.9 x 1.8 x 19.8 cm
Provenance:
- Recovered in 1898 at the Piprahwa Stupa (present-day Basti district, Uttar Pradesh), Northern India, by the English estate manager and engineer William Claxton Peppé (1852-1936), and thence by descent
Estimate Upon Request
Auction House: Sotheby's Hong Kong
Sale: The Piprahwa Gems of the Historical Buddha
Date: 7 May 2025
The objects trace back to an excavation led by the British William Claxton Peppé in the late 1890s at Piprahwa, a site in northern India near the Nepalese border. Beneath a large stupa, Peppé unearthed a massive stone coffer containing five reliquary urns filled with bone fragments and approximately 1,800 ritual objects – including gemstones, pearls, shells, silver, and gold.
One urn bore an inscription in ancient Pali, translated to read: “This shrine for relics of the Buddha, the August One, is that of the Sakyas, the brethren of the Distinguished One.” In other words, the remains and surrounding relics likely belonged to the historical Buddha himself.
A present-day view of the Piprahwa Stupa
One of the reliquary urns, inscribed in ancient Pali script, identifies the relics as belonging to the Buddha
At the time, India was under British colonial rule, and the question of ownership proved diplomatically sensitive. To avoid religious and political controversy, Peppé sought the counsel of King Rama V of Siam (modern-day Thailand), then the world’s only reigning Buddhist monarch. With British approval, the bone relics were presented as a gift to the Siamese king, who later distributed them to major Buddhist temples across Asia.
The accompanying 1,800 ritual objects were largely transferred to the Indian Museum in Kolkata, and Peppé was permitted to retain over 300 "duplicate items," which remained with his family for generations before being consigned to Sotheby’s for auction.
In recent decades, the lot has been exhibited at prominent institutions, including the Museum Rietberg in Zurich, the Rubin Museum of Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore, and the National Museum of Korea in Seoul.
The gem relics on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
India’s Ministry of Culture maintains that the relics are not “duplicates” or “specimens,” but sacred offerings originally interred with the Buddha’s remains – objects referred to in Buddhist tradition as dhatu. These materials, the ministry argues, are inseparable from the relics themselves and represent an indivisible religious and cultural heritage.
The Indian government asserts that all artifacts excavated from the Piprahwa stupa are considered state property under Indian law and protected "AA" antiquities, meaning they are protected from sale or export. While Peppé was granted temporary custodianship of some items during the colonial period, this did not amount to legal ownership. “It is a legal principle,” the statement reads, “that custodianship does not grant any right to alienate or misappropriate the asset.”
The ministry adds that, given the sacred nature of the relics, custodianship entails not only preservation but also “an unflinching sentiment of veneration.” Citing a report from the Sunday Times of London, the government pointed to claims that the relics were once forgotten in a shoebox at the bottom of the cabinet level with the floor. “Care and custodianship have in this case been monetised via publicity and exhibition,” officials state.
India's Ministry of Culture shares the legal notice on X
In addition to domestic laws, Indian authorities cited several international legal instruments that they argue the auction would violate:
- UNESCO 1970 Convention
Article 1 defines cultural property to include archaeological and religious items. Export of such property requires consent from the country of origin. No such authorization was granted by India. Both India and China (including Hong Kong) are signatories.
- UNIDROIT Convention (1995)
Article 3 mandates the return of illegally exported cultural objects. The items in question lack legal export documentation.
- Hague Convention (1954), Second Protocol (1999)
Affirms the sacred and non-commercial status of cultural property, particularly those linked to religious heritage and colonial removal. Sacred Buddhist relics fall in the category of "enhanced protection" – for cultural property of the greatest importance for humanity and as per the protocol there are sanctions to be imposed for serious violations with respect to cultural property and individual criminal responsibility shall apply.
The Ministry of Culture issued four formal demands to Sotheby’s and the Peppé family:
- The immediate cessation of the auction
- Full cooperation with Indian authorities to return the relics to their rightful place
- A public apology from both Sotheby’s and the Peppé family
- Full disclosure of all records that trace the ownership of the relics that are still in their possession or transferred by them
As of this writing, Sotheby’s has not publicly commented on the legal notice or the Indian government’s demands. Whether the auction will proceed as scheduled remains unclear.