On the occasion of the Bi-centenary year for the Indian Museum, Dr. B Venugopal, Director, spoke specially about the Buddha relics in the Indian Museum. His speech focused on the collections covering the various facets of Buddhism, e.g.,
Ø Bharhut railing,
Ø Gandhara sculptures (including the first excavated material from the Gandhara region)
Ø Mathura school
Ø Sarnath school
Ø Buddhist relics
He mentioned that, according to Buddhist tradition, the relics of the Buddha are of three kinds:
Ø Physical (Saririka): Hair, bone, teeth
Ø Utilitarian (Paribhogika): Objects used by the Buddha: Bo-tree, robes, alms bowl
Ø Commemorations (Uddesika): Shrine, images
The Indian Museum, Kolkata acquired the first Buddha relics found from Piprahwa, Basti District, Uttar Pradesh from the then North Western Province Government (date of acquisition 20.09.1898). These were found along with several pearls, coral pieces, gold and silver leaves, a small umbrella and a small female figure inside four relic caskets (in steatite and one in crystal). All of these were kept inside a large stone coffer.
The Chairman of the Tourism Committee Mr. Manab Pal was of the opinion that Kolkata has sufficient tourism infrastructure. The Central Government has allotted INR 500 crores for promoting Buddhist Tourism in India part of which should be utilized for displaying the relics of Lord Buddha, namely, “Nirvana Asthi”, which is proposed to be exclusively displayed in a separate air-conditioned gallery in the Indian Museum.
Mr. Pal informed that 1.2 million Buddhists tourists visit Bihar every year on Buddhist Pilgrimage and 3 million Buddhist tourists visit Candy in Sri Lanka every year to worship Lord Buddha’s relic in Candy Temple. Therefore, the tourism industry should target a minimum 2,50,000 Buddhist pilgrims to visit Kolkata to pay their obeisance to ‘Nirvana Asthi’ at Indian Museum in the very first year after inauguration of the relic targeted on 15th August,
2015. Presently around 50,000 Buddhist tourists transit through Kolkata but do not spend any time at “Destination Kolkata”. Mr. Pal further mentioned that the IRCTC has introduced a special train, Mahaparinirvan Express from New Delhi catering solely to Buddhist tourists. It is an entire travel package that IRCTC is offering for a complete tour of the “Buddhist Circuit”. Mr. Jagannathan reiterated that the same train could be run through the Kolkata circuit starting from Kolkata and ending in Kolkata and IRCTC is prepared to offer complete rake with food and beverage facilities so that the tourists can use the train as a hotel. The rake consists of first class chair cars as well as two and three tier AC compartments. Railway authorities are prepared to provide special menu if required. However, the whole rake must be booked for a minimum 200 passengers with minimum two months’ notice.