India will soon send relics of the Buddha, discovered in Devni Mori in northern Gujarat, to Thailand for an exposition. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced this after bilateral talks with Thailand Prime Minister Paentongtran Shinawatra at the Government House here.
“I am extremely happy to announce that the Holy Relics found in Aravali, Gujarat in 1960 will also be sent to Thailand for an exposition,” Modi said after he received a copy of the 108 volumes of Tipitaka, the revered collection of Buddhist scriptures, in Pali language, from Paetongtarn.
The Prime Minister noted that the Holy Relics of Lord Buddha were sent from India to Thailand last year.
“It is a matter of great pleasure that more than four million devotees got the opportunity to pay their tributes,” he said. The Devni Mori relics were found during excavations at the mound known as ‘Bhoja Raja No Terkro’ or the courtyard of King Bhoja in 1960.
The dig suggested this was the location of a Mahastupa – the big stupa surrounded by monasteries or viharas buried in the adjoining fields.
The stupa was 37 feet high with a base rammed with pebbles, brickbats, kankar and yellow silt.
The excavators found a casket made of green schist, with inscriptions on the body and lid, at the lowest level of the stupa.
Inside the stone casket was a copper box which contained the sacred relics of Buddha. The inscription on the casket mentions Buddha as ‘Dashaballa’.
