Stir
over shifting of Buddha relics
INDIA: Discontent is brewing in Orissa over the proposed transfer
of the relics of the Buddha to Ratnagiri for public display.
The
relics, which were found in four caskets during excavation at
Lalitgiri in Jajpur district in 1982, are now kept at the Bhubaneswar
office of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
There
is a plan to shift them to Ratnagiri, which is another Buddhist
site in the same district, Jajpur.
The
people of Lalitgiri, however, want these relics to be kept at
their village since they were found there. “Knowing
the importance of the place, the disciples of the Buddha had brought
the relics to Lalitgiri in the 2nd and 3rd century B.C.
Will
it not be a dishonour to the Buddha if the relics are shifted
to some other place or places?†said Pradipta Bhuiyan,
president of Buddhayana, a socio-cultural organisation fighting
for the conservation of Buddhist relics and monuments in the state.
Bhuiyan
said if the ASI was not interested in building a strong room at
Lalitgiri for the safe keeping of these relics, the villagers
were ready to build such a facility with their own money.
Historian
Karuna Sagar Behera says that the four caskets carrying the holy
relics of the Buddha were recovered from a stone stupa at Lalitgiri
during excavations by the ASI in 1982. “This
was the rarest of rare discoveries,†he said.
Lalitgiri
is the only Buddhist site in eastern India where such relic caskets
were recovered. This has helped establish the status of Lalitgiri
as one of the foremost centres of Buddhism.
Paresh
Nayak, chairman of Odisha International Centre, a cultural forum,
said if the ASI did not withdraw its decision to shift the relics,
Buddhists and cultural activists in the state would hold a demonstration
at Raj Bhavan here on August 18.
Orissa
tourism and culture minister Suryanarayan Patro told this newspaper
on Thursday that since Lalitgiri had no museum at present, the
ASI had decided to shift the relics to Ratnagiri. “I
have assured the cultural activists that I will talk to the ASI
authorities and discuss their demand. I am hopeful that something
positive will emerge.â€
