Buddha's Sacred Relics enshrined in India

NEW DELHI: Thousands of Buddhists from India and abroad gathered in Mumbai on Sunday to lay to rest some of the Sacred Relics of the Buddha, a report said.

The Sacred Relics of the Buddha were lowered into a shallow pit on top of a 90-foot high stone structure the Global Vipassana Pagoda at Gorai island in the city's north, the Press Trust of India reported.

Buddhist monks chanted from scriptures during the ceremony, which formed part of celebrations to mark the 2,550th anniversary of Buddha's Enlightenment.

Buddhists from the United States, Britain, Australia and Cambodia sat in meditation during the ceremony inside the dome, which can accommodate about 9,000 people, the report said.

Organisers said Sunday's ceremony was the first time in about 2,000 years the Buddha's Sacred Relics were being enshrined, the report said.

The Relics laid to rest on Sunday were discovered during an archaeological expedition in southern India in 1920, the report quoted S.N. Goenka of the Vipassana Foundation, which built the stone structure, as saying.

India, Monday AFP