Art historian Naman Ahuja on the repatriation of the Piprahwa Buddha relics
In the spring of 1897, William Claxton Peppé, an estate manager, ordered the excavation of a stupa in Piprahwa, a village in modern-day Uttar Pradesh. Piprahwa is widely believed to be the site of ancient Kapilavastu, the historical seat of the Buddha’s family clan, the Shakyas. Peppé’s team unearthed bone fragments, soapstone and crystal caskets, a sandstone … Read more