NRP Desk
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya will be heading to Kalmykia in Russia this week to exhibit the Piprahwa relics of Lord Buddha that were recently returned to India by the British, officials said. The Piprahwa relics were discovered in 1898 at the Piprahwa stupa in Siddharthnagar district of UP and are widely regarded as an important archaeological find linked to early Buddhist history. They were believed to have been taken abroad during British rule and were returned to India in July after 127 years. Uttar Pradesh has been developing tourism infrastructure around the Piprahwa site to capitalise on the relics’ cultural and religious significance. Claiming that in a way he comes from the same lineage as that of Buddha, Maurya said that he would be leading a group of 35 individuals including officials from Union Ministry of Culture as well as a secretary rank officer from Uttar Pradesh. The relics will be taken to Russia on an Indian Air Force aircraft. The delegation is scheduled to depart on September 23, sources said.
The exhibition in Elista, the capital of the Republic of Kalmykia, Russia, will begin on September 24 and will continue till October 1.
