Sacred relics of Buddha at National Museum to be exhibited in Russia

New Delhi, Sep 22 (PTI) The sacred relics of the Buddha, enshrined at the National Museum here, are set to be exhibited in Russia's Kalmykia from September 24-28 as part of an exposition, the Culture Ministry said on Monday.

The relics, housed at the 'Buddhist Gallery' of the museum, will be transported with great reverence, escorted by senior monks with full religious sanctity and protocol, by a special Indian Air Force aircraft, it said.

The occasion is the 3rd International Buddhist Forum to be held in Elista, the capital of Kalmykia Republic.

"The highlight of the forum, themed 'Buddhism in the New Millennium', will be the Shakyamuni's sacred relics from India, four exhibitions organised by IBC (International Buddhist Confederation) and the National Museum, and three special academic lectures," the ministry said in a statement.

The sacred relics of the Buddha from the National Museum will be sent to Kalmykia Republic for the "first exposition", and will be accompanied by a high-level delegation of senior Indian and international monks to bless and enable prayers by the predominantly Buddhist population of that region, it said.

The Indian Ministry of Culture, in collaboration with the IBC, the National Museum and the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), are organising for the "first time an exposition of the sacred Buddha relics" that are enshrined in the museum at the 3rd International Buddhist Forum from September 24-28, the ministry said.

The relics will be enshrined in the main Buddhist monastery in Elista, known as the Geden Sheddup Choikorling Monastery, also called the 'Golden Abode of Shakyamuni Buddha'. This is a significant Tibetan Buddhist centre, opened for the public in 1996 and is surrounded by the Kalmyk steppe, it said.

Earlier, a high-level delegation of monks from Kalmykia visited India and requested Union Minister of Culture and Tourism Gajendra Singh Sekhawat and Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju that the sacred relics of the Buddha be temporarily taken to their hometown for "veneration and blessings", it said.

A high-level delegation will be led by Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to Russia to attend the forum while other officials will accompany the holy relics.

The IBC delegation led by the director general will include "H H 43rd Sakya Trizin Rinpoche, Head of Sakya Order of Tibetan Buddhism; H E 13th Kundeling Taktsak Rinpoche, Drepung Gomang Monastery; H E 7th Yongzin Ling Rinpoche and 17 other senior monks. The three senior-most venerables from India will offer a Blessing Session for the local devotees," it added.

Two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) will also be signed on the occasion, one between the Central Spiritual Administration of Buddhist Russia and the International Buddhist Confederation, and the other with the Nalanda University, the statement said.

The National Museum and the IBC will be displaying three exhibitions of sculpture and artworks depicting the 'Four Great Events in the Life of the Buddha', and another one on the Sacred Legacy of the Shakyas -- Excavation and Exposition of Buddha Relics from Piprahwa, the ancient Kapilavastu, capital of the Shakya clan, it said.

The exhibition by the National Museum will showcase 'The Art of Stillness - Buddhist Art from its National Collection'. Eminent artist Vasudev Kamath will also display his works of art at the event, the ministry said.

The forum will bring together spiritual leaders and guests from over 35 countries, and IBC will also hold a demonstration of an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot in Russian language, a virtual technology that provides a comprehensive understanding of Buddha Dhamma. It is called 'Norbu - the Kalyana Mitta', a spiritual friend, it said.

On the occasion, the IBC and the manuscript division of the Ministry of Culture will also present the Holy Kanjur -- the Mongolian religious texts -- a set of 108 volumes that were originally translated from the Tibetan Kanjur -- to nine Buddhist institutes and a university, the statement said.

The forum is a major international event being held to nurture a spiritual dialogue and foster cultural unity as "Kalmykia is the only Buddhist republic in Europe," it said.

Kalmykia is a region that is characterised by vast grasslands, though it also includes desert areas, and it is in the southwestern part of the European territory of Russia, bordering the Caspian Sea.

"The Kalmyks are descendants of the Oirat Mongols who migrated from Western Mongolia in the early 17th century. Their history is deeply tied to nomadic lifestyles, which influences their culture. They are the only ethnic group in Europe that practices Mahayana Buddhism," it said.

The holy relics of the Buddha enshrined in India have been taken to Mongolia, Thailand and Vietnam in the recent past.

The Piprahwa relics at the National Museum were taken to Mongolia in 2022 whereas the holy relics of the Buddha and his two disciples enshrined at Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh were taken for exposition to Thailand in 2024. This year, the holy relics of the Buddha from Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh were taken to Vietnam.

The holy relics being taken to Kalmykia belong to this same family of relics, based in the National Museum, it said. PTI KND KSS KSS