Buddha belonged to the
Shakya clan, whose capital was located at
Kapilavastu. During an excavation in 1898, William Claxton Peppe discovered five small vases containing bone fragments, ashes, and jewels in a long-forgotten stupa in
Piprahwa, near
Birdpur in the Basti district of
Uttar Pradesh, India. A team led by K.M. Srivastava performed further excavations at the Piprahwa site between 1971 and 1973. The team discovered a casket containing fragments of charred bone and dated them to the 4th or 5th century BCE. Based upon the findings of these excavations, the
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has identified Piprahwa as Kapilavastu. This conclusion is disputed by some authorities, including the Nepalese
Department of Archaeology, which claims
Tilaurakot as the historical location of Kapilavastu. The
Relic Stupa of Vaishali was built by
Lichhavis in
Vaishali as a mud stupa in the 5th century BCE. Noted archaeologists
Anant Sadashiv Altekar and Sitaram Rai of the K.P. Jayaswal Research Institute led an archaeological excavation of this stupa from 1958 to 1962. A reliquary was discovered and removed from the core of the stupa; it was dated to the 5th century BCE. It was later determined that this reliquary contained ashes of the Buddha mixed with earth, a copper
punch-marked coin, and several other items. The casket was brought to the
Patna Museum in 1972, where it remains to this day. Mortal remains of the Buddha belonging to the third or fourth century were found during an excavation in 1962–1963 at Devni Mori which is a Buddhist archaeological site near
Shamalaji in
Gujarat. Ashes of Buddha were found in a gold bottle wrapped in silk cloth within a copper bowl that was kept in a casket. The 1,700-year-old casket's inscription in
Brahmi script mentions ‘Dashabala Sharira Nilaya’ — which stands for 'abode of the bodily relics of Lord Buddha'. The remains are preserved in the Museum of Department of Archaeology and Ancient History of the Faculty of Arts,
Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda -
Vadodara. ,
Bihar, Sarnath. Dhamma Vinaya Monastery Pune located in western part of
Maharashtra state. In the
Sahyadri hill ranges near
khadakwasala dam where Dhamma Vinaya Monastery Pune, a replica of
Sanchi stupa constructed and relics of Gautam
Buddha's and
arhants was enshrined. When the first dome of the
Global Vipassana Pagoda was constructed in October 2006 in
Mumbai; bone relics of the Buddha were enshrined in the central locking stone of the dome, making it the world's largest structure containing relics of the Buddha. The relics were originally found in the stupa at
Bhattiprolu, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh, India. They have been donated by the Mahabodhi Society of India and the prime minister of Sri Lanka to be kept at the Global Vipassana Pagoda. A casket was discovered in
Lalitgiri in
Orissa believed to contain bones of Buddha. The
Culvmsa relays the legend
Silakala and
King Moggallana who went to India in exile. Silakala became a novice at
Bodhgaya where he was given a hair relic; Moggallana took this
relic back to Sri Lanka and placed it in a crystal casket, and instigated a regular festival in honor of the hair. Although king Bimbisara let the women in his palace visit Buddha in his monastery in the evenings; the women wanted a hair and nail stupa they could use to venerate the Buddha any time. After Bimbisara spoke with Buddha who complied with their request. In
Rajagrha, Buddha went to have his hair shaved, but none of the monks were willing to cut Buddha's hair; so they found a young boy named
Upali of the barber cast. In the attempt to cut the hair better he controlled his body posture and breathing going into the fourth level of trance,
dhyana. The Buddha's disciple seeing this
Ananda took the razor from him; then wondered what to do with the hair; thinking it was an impure thing. Buddha reprimanded him and had Ananda deliver the hair in a pot to the general
Gopali who took it into battle, becoming victorious. According to
Xuanzang's observation, hundreds of thousands of devotees came daily to venerate the tooth relic in Kanyakubja. According to the Pali Dathavamsa (tooth chronicle) a disciple of Buddha named Khema took a tooth from Buddha's funeral pyre and gave it to Brahmadatta king of
Kalinga (India). In Dantapura the tooth is taken by
niganthas to King
Gushava, then the Hindu emperor
Pandu who attempts to destroy it in several different ways. Unable to destroy the tooth the king converts to Buddhism and venerates the tooth. One hundred years prior to the visit of Xuanzang the Ephthalite
Huns destroyed a number of relics in Kashmira and Gandhara. To escape one of the purges, a monk fled to India and paid pilgrimage to many sacred sites. One day he encountered a herd of wild elephants. He attempted to hide in a tree but was taken by the elephants to one of their young who had a bamboo splinter in his foot. He treated the elephant's wound and it rewarded him with a golden casket containing a tooth of Buddha. On the way back he ferried across a river that threatened to sink them mid-way. The passengers determined it was Nagas wanting the Buddha relic and convinced the monk to throw the tooth in the river. He would spend the next three years learning the proper rituals to tame the Nagas; subduing their king and reclaiming the tooth. He later did this successfully. In 2025, the sacred
Piprahwa relics of
Lord Buddha, taken abroad during colonial rule after their discovery in 1898, were brought back to India. Prime Minister
Narendra Modi called it a proud moment reflecting India's deep connection with Buddha and its commitment to cultural heritage. The government acted swiftly when the relics appeared in an international auction, reinforcing its resolve to preserve the sentiments of all communities in
India. ==Relics in Indonesia==