India extends Buddha relics exposition in Bhutan

India has extended the exposition of the sacred relics of Lord Buddha in Bhutan’s capital, Thimphu, by a week at the request of the Himalayan country’s royal government.

The casket containing the relics was sent as a goodwill gesture from the National Museum in New 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 Ministry of Culture said the exposition, which has drawn thousands of devout Buddhists, will remain on display until November 24. It will return in a special flight the following day, with Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju participating in the ceremony associated with the return of the relics to India.

Named after Piprahwa, the site in Uttar Pradesh where they were discovered, the relics are currently enshrined at a revered hall near the palace of the Kung of Bhutan in Thimphu.

“The extension underscores the deep cultural and spiritual bonds between India and Bhutan and reflects the immense public reverence the exposition has received in Bhutan… The Ministry of Culture is honoured to accede to Bhutan’s request, allowing more devotees to seek blessings,” an official statement said.

The GPPF, which started on November 4, concluded on Wednesday with the full ordination of about 270 Buddhist nuns, marking a significant step toward gender parity in Bhutan’s monastic tradition.

Bhutan follows the Vajrayana school of Buddhism, which differs from the two other schools — Mahayana and Theravada. The GPPF was the first such large-scale event to bring together monks from all three schools across 20 countries in pursuit of a common ground.

While the first week of the 16-day festival was dedicated to prayers for global peace and happiness of all sentient beings, the last five days were devoted to the gelongma (bhikshuni) or full ordination of nuns. Sandwiched between the two was the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the 70th birthday of Bhutan’s fourth King, Jigme Singye Wangchuk.

According to a GPPF spokesperson, the number of nuns from Bhutan and 14 other countries ordained in batches by Jigme Choedra, Bhutan’s Chief Abbot, exceeded the initial estimate of 250.

“The full ordination was a step toward addressing the inequality between men and women in monasticism. Vinaya, the Buddhist code of monastic discipline, says that the bhikshuni ordination can only be conferred when both fully ordained monks and nuns are present,” a site dedicated to Buddhism said.

“Because a Vajrayana bhikshuni lineage was never established, women have been shut out of full monasticism with a catch-22: Without a quorum of nuns to attend the ordination, no women can be fully ordained,” it further said.

Bhutan had organised such a full ordination of nuns on a smaller scale in 2022.