Auction of gems found with Buddha's remains is postponed after India objects

Sotheby’s has postponed the auction of a collection of ancient gems linked to the Buddha’s remains after the Indian government threatened legal action and demanded their repatriation.

HONG KONG — Sotheby’s has postponed the auction of a collection of ancient gems linked to the Buddha’s remains after the Indian government threatened legal action and demanded their repatriation.

The auction of the Piprahwa Gems of the Historical Buddha has been postponed “with the agreement of the consignors,” three descendants of a British colonial landowner who excavated them, Sotheby’s said in a statement Wednesday.

“This will allow for discussions between the parties, and we look forward to sharing any updates as appropriate,” the auction house said.

India had slammed the planned auction of the gems, which William Claxton Peppé dug up on his northern Indian estate in 1898, as offensive to the world’s 500 million Buddhists and a violation of Indian and international law and United Nations conventions.

The Piprahwa gemstones, part of a dazzling cache of more than 1,800 artifacts that are now mostly housed at the Indian Museum in Kolkata, are named after the town in what is now the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh where they were buried in a stupa, or funerary monument, around 200-240 BC.