In this picture released on November 9, 2025, the sacred relics of Lord Buddha are seen after they were brought from India to Bhutan. Photo: @DrSJaishankar/X via PTI Photo
At the request of the Himalayan country’s royal government, India has extended the exhibition of the sacred relics of Lord Buddha in the capital of Bhutan, Thimphu, by a week.
The casket containing the relics was sent as a goodwill gesture from the National Museum in Delhi for public display from November 12 to 17 during the Global Peace Prayer Festival (GPPF) in Thimphu. The casket was scheduled to return to India on November 18.
India’s culture ministry said the exhibit, which has attracted thousands of Buddhist devotees, will remain on display until November 24. He will return on a special flight the following day, the ceremony to return the relics to India will be attended by Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju.
Named after Piprahwa, the place in Uttar Pradesh where they were discovered, the relics are currently enshrined in a hall of worship near the palace of the Kung of Bhutan in Thimphu.
“The extension underscores the deep cultural and spiritual ties between India and Bhutan and reflects the immense public respect the exhibition has received in Bhutan… The Ministry of Culture is honored to accede to Bhutan’s request and allow more devotees to seek blessings,” an official statement said.
The GPPF, which began on November 4, ended on Wednesday with the full ordination of about 270 Buddhist nuns, marking a major step towards gender equality in Bhutan’s monastic tradition.
Bhutan follows the Vajrayana school of Buddhism, which differs from two other schools — Mahayana and Theravada. The GPPF was the first such large-scale event to bring together monks from all three schools in 20 countries in pursuit of common ground.
While the first week of the 16-day festival was dedicated to prayers for global peace and the happiness of all sentient beings, the last five days were dedicated to gelongma (bhikshuni), or full ordination of nuns. Among them was Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to attend the 70th birthday of Bhutan’s fourth king, Jigme Singye Wangchuk.
According to a GPPF spokesman, the number of nuns from Bhutan and 14 other countries en masse ordained by Jigme Choedra, Bhutan’s chief abbot, has exceeded the original estimate of 250.
“Full ordination was a step to address the inequality between men and women in monasticism. The Vinaya, the Buddhist code of monastic discipline, says that bhikshuni ordination can only be granted if fully ordained monks and nuns are present,” the website dedicated to Buddhism says.
“Because the Vajrayana bhikshuni lineage was never established, women were excluded from full monasticism with a catch-22: Without a quorum of nuns to attend the ordination, no women can be fully ordained,” he continued.
Bhutan organized such a full ordination of nuns on a smaller scale in 2022.
Published – 19 Nov 2025 20:24 IST
