The Indian government has condemned an auction of ancient Indian gems and issued a legal notice to stop the “unethical” sale of the relics, which it said should be treated as the sacred body of the Buddha.
New Delhi’s Ministry of Culture said the auction of the Piprahwa gems in Hong Kong, scheduled for May 7, “violates Indian and international laws as well as United Nations conventions” and demanded their repatriation to India “for preservation and religious veneration”.
The Indian government claims to have more than sufficient evidence.
The legal writ was served to the Sotheby’s auction house and Chris Peppe, one of three heirs of William Claxton Peppe, a British colonial landowner who in 1898 excavated the gems on his northern Indian estate and kept them as family heirlooms.
Chris Peppe said they had considered donating them to temples and museums but this proved to be problematic. “An auction [in Hong Kong] seems the fairest and most transparent way to transfer these relics to Buddhists and we are confident that Sotheby’s will achieve that,” he added.
The Piprahwa gems date back to the Mauryan Empire, circa 240 to 200 BC. They have been described by Sotheby’s as “one of the most astonishing archaeological finds of the modern era” and “of unparalleled religious, archaeological and historical importance”.
The auction, which has prompted an outcry from scholars and monastic leaders. The gems are expected to sell for about HK$100m (£9.7m).
Courtesy Sotheby’s
