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The Indian government threatened to take legal measures against Sotbiba in Hong Kong if they did not stop the upcoming precious stones related to the Buddha and did not ask to return to India.
Auction that should happen on Wednesday, Includes precious stones that were found buried With the bone fragments of the Buddha more than a hundred years ago.
The Indian Ministry of Culture has stated that the sale “violates Indian and international laws, as well as the UN Convention”, and should be considered sacred. The sale was also convicted by several Buddhists and art scientists around the world.
BBC turned to Sotheby’s for comment.
The Indian ministry posted a letter he sent to Sotbis and Chris Peppe, the great -grandson of William Klaxstan Peppe, which excavated the relics in 1898, Instagram.
The report said Sotbis responded to a legal message and assured that the case was receiving his “full attention”.
The report said that Peppe “lacks powers” to sell relics and accused the auctional house of “continuing colonial exploitation”, contributing to sales.
William Klyakstan Peppe was an English leader of real estate who excavated the stupa in Piprahwa, south of Lumbini, Verula the Homeland of Buddha. It revealed the relics, inscribed and consecrated almost 2000 years ago.
The conclusions included almost 1800 gems, including Ruby, Topaz, Sapphires and exemplary gold sheets stored in the brick chamber. Now this site is located in the Northern Indian state of Uttar -Pradesh.
William Peppe conveyed stones, relics and relics of the colonial Indian government, from where the prisons went to the Buddhist King Siama (Ram V). Five relics of urn, stone suitcase and most other relics were sent to the Indian museum to Calcutta – then the Imperial Museum of Calcutta.
Chris Peppe remained only a small “part of the duplicates” he was allowed to be preserved, and remained in the Peppe family. .
The Indian ministry stated that the marking of precious stones as “duplicates” is misleading and that these relics are “inherent religious and cultural heritage” of India.
The precious stones “cannot be considered as patterns”, but as “sacred body and initially borrowed victims of the sacred body” of the Buddha, the report said.
The ministry also questioned the preservation of precious stones.
It states that sellers who call themselves the keepers of gems have no right to “push or illegally assign an asset”, which calls “the unusual heritage of humanity.”
The statement also mentions a ten -year report stating that the relics remained forgotten in the shoe box, believing that the keepers also included “safe content”.
The Indian ministry demanded a public forgiveness from Sotbis and Peppe. He also asked them to fully reveal all the entries that trace ownership of the relics that are still in their possession or transferred to them.
The ministry said that failure to comply with their requirements would lead to a trial in India and Hong Kong for “violation of the law on cultural heritage”.
It also threatened to start a “public campaign” by highlighting the role of Sotby in the perpetuator of “colonial injustice”.
Earlier, Chris Peppe told the BBC that the family considered the donation of the relic, but all the options were providing problems, and the auction seemed “the most fair and transparent way to convey these relics to Buddhists.”
Chris Peppe wrote that the gems moved from their great duty to their cousin, and in 2013 came to him and two more cousins.
Over the last six years, gems have participated in major exhibitions, including one in Met in 2023. Peppé family also launched a web -resort to “share our research”.
But the Indian ministry said in its statement that the keepers of precious stones were “monetized through advertising and exhibition”.
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