News
Prelate to contact Peppé family, to stop auctioning of the Piprahwa relics
View(s):By Chandani Kirinde
Venerable Waskaduwe Mahindawansa Maha Nayaka Thera, the chief incumbent of the temple that is the repository of a part of the Piprahwa relics said he hopes to contact the family attempting to auction a part of the relics through the Sotheby auctioneers and have it stopped.
Venerable Mahindawansa Thera, chief incumbent of the Waskaduwe Rajaguru Sri Subhuthi Viharaya, who had written to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as the Archaeology Department in India once he heard of the auction, thanked the Indian authorities for their prompt action that resulted the auction scheduled for May 7, being put on hold.
The relics were discovered in 1898
by a British official, William Peppé during an excavation at Piprahwa, just south of Lumbini and 160 kilometers away from Kusinara where Lord Buddha
attained Parinibbana.
Venerable Mahindawansa Thera told the Sunday Times that the auction of the gems that were found along with the corporeal relics of Lord Buddha is unacceptable and all steps must be taken to stop the relics being commodified.
“I am attempting to contact the relatives of William Peppe who are trying to auction these relics which are invaluable to Buddhists,” the Thera said.
The relics in the possession of the temple at Waskaduwe had been gifted to the late Most Venerable Sri Subhuthi Mahanayake Thero of Waskaduwa Temple as a token of appreciation for assisting the Archaeological team and Mr. Peppe to translate the writing in the relic casket written in Mauryan Brahmi /Pali script. Some items from the collection had been kept by Mr. Peppé and passed down to his ancestors.
A part of the Buddha relics obtained from this stupa was sent to the King of Thailand and another part was sent to the King of Burma.
“Venerable Sri Subuthi Thera was gifted some of the finds at Piprahwa by Mr.William Peppe and I will try to talk to his descendants who are now trying to auction these relics,” he said.
The Sotheby’s Hong Kong webpage which publicised the auction of the Piprahwa relics has since taken it down after protests from India and several other Buddhist countries.
Please visit related story
The best way to say that you found the home of your dreams is by finding it on Hitad.lk. We have listings for apartments for sale or rent in Sri Lanka, no matter what locale you're looking for! Whether you live in Colombo, Galle, Kandy, Matara, Jaffna and more - we've got them all!