Appendix: a note on the relics of Sariputta and Maha Moggallana

On Sanchi Hill in Bhopal are the remains of ten stupas which are among the oldest buildings still standing in India. By their architectural features and sculpture they have always been recognised as belonging to the high noon of Buddhist art, the characters in which their numerous inscriptions are written placing them at about the period of Asoka; that is, some time around the middle of the third century B.C. Some are in good preservation, while others have been reduced in the course of centuries to mere mounds of earth and stone.

It was in one of these, the now famous Third Stupa, that Sir Alexander Cunningham discovered the sacred Body Relics of the Buddha's Chief Disciples, Sariputta and Maha Moggallana, in 1851. At about the same time, more relics of the two great Arahats were found in a stupa at Satadhara, about six miles distant from Sanchi.

On sinking a shaft in the center of the stupa on Sanchi Hill, Cunningham came upon a large stone slab, upwards of five feet in length, lying in a direction from north to south. Beneath the slab were found two boxes of grey sandstone, each with a brief inscription in Brahmi characters on the lid. The box to the south was inscribed "Sariputtasa" "(Relics) of Sariputta," while that to the north bore the legend "Maha-Mogalanasa." "(Relics) of Maha Moggallana."

The southernmost box contained a large flat casket of white steatite, rather more than six inches broad and three inches in height. The surface was hard and polished and the box, which had been turned on a lathe, was a beautiful piece of workmanship. Around this casket were some fragments of sandalwood believed to have been from the funeral pyre, while inside it, besides the Relic, various precious stones were found. This casket contained a single bone relic of the Venerable Sariputta, not quite one inch in length.

The stone box to the north enclosed another steatite casket, similar to that of Sariputta but slightly smaller and with a softer surface. Inside it were two bone relics of the Venerable Maha Moggallana, the larger of them being something less than half an inch in length.

Each of the two steatite caskets had a single ink letter inscribed on the inner surface of the lid: "Sa" for Sariputta on the southern and "Ma" for Maha Moggallana on that to the north. In Cunningham's words, "Sariputta and Maha Moggallana were the principal followers of the Buddha, and were usually styled his right and left hand disciples. Their ashes thus preserved after death the same positions to the right and left of Buddha which they had themselves occupied in life."^[1] This is explained by the fact that the Buddha customarily sat facing east.

In the stupa at Satadhara, one of a group which Cunningham noted was called locally "Buddha Bhita" or "Buddha Monuments," he discovered two caskets of pale mottled steatite. These were inscribed, like those at Sanchi, "Sariputtasa" and "Maha Mogallanasa" respectively. This stupa showed signs of having been violated by robbers, but the bone relics had been left undistrubed. Cunningham, who is a very capable archaeologist, has left a detailed account of everything his excavations brought to light in these and other stupas, and it is thanks to him that the authenticity of the relics is established beyond all doubt.

The relics from both stupas were removed to England and placed in the Victoria and Albert Museum, but some discrepancies between Cunningham's description of the caskets and the actual boxes in which the relics were deposited gives reason to believe that he, or someone else, transferred the relics from Sanchi to the caskets discovered at Satadhara, and what became of the Sanchi steatite caskets is not known for certain.

The Sacred Relics were preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum until 1939, when the Maha Bodhi Society approached the British government with a request that they be returned to India. The request was at once granted, but owing to the outbreak of the second World War in that year, the actual transfer was delayed for reasons of safety until Feb 24th, 1947. On that date they were handed over to the representatives of the Maha Bodhi Society at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and so began their journey back to the land of their origin.

Before being restored to India, however, the relics were taken to Sri Lanka, where they were received with great honor and amid general rejoicing. For two and a half months in 1947, they were displayed for public worship at the Colombo Museum, where it has been estimated that well over two million people paid homage to them. It is said that not only Buddhists but Hindus, Christians and Muslims joined in paying reverence to them.^[2]

The next stage of their journey to the new Vihara that was being erected for their re-enshrinement at Sanchi, was Calcutta. There the relics were displayed for public homage at the Dharmarajika Vihara, headquarters of the Maha Bodhi Society of India. The same scenes of religious devotion were enacted there. Every day for two weeks an unbroken stream of people filed past the shrine where the relics were exposed, from morning until late evening. Most of the devotees were Hindus, but there was also a large number of Muslims among them, and the reverence shown by all was a deeply impressive sight. Many had come from distant parts to pay their respects to the remains of these great sons of India.

Next came a request from Burma that the relics should be taken for exposition here. This was readily granted. The reception given to them in that country revived all the pomp and religious fervor of ancient times. In order that everyone in Burma should be given an opportunity of worshipping them, the relics were conducted on a riverine tour along the Irrawaddy from Mandalay to Rangoon. The steamer that conveyed them was escorted by boats decorated in traditional Burmese style, and at every town along the river the relics were taken ashore in procession for worship at the chief pagoda. At the same time religious meetings were held, drawing vast crowds of people from the adjacent villages to hear sermons and the recitation of suttas, which usually continued all through the night.

Subsequently, at the request of the respective governments, the relics were taken for exposition to Nepal and Ladakh.

After they were returned to India the Burmese government asked that a portion of the Sacred Relics should be given to Burma. The Maha Bodhi Society of India agreed to this, and the then Prime Minister of Burma went in person to Calcutta to receive them. They were ceremonially transferred to him on the 20th October 1950. The portion allotted to Burma was afterwards enshrined in the Kaba Aye Zedi (World Peace Pagoda), built on the site of the Sixth Great Buddhist Council, close to Rangoon. The elaborate ceremonies connected with the crowning of the pagoda and the installation of the relics lasted from the 5th to 11th of March, 1952.

Another portion was given to Sri Lanka to be enshrined in a new stupa built by the Maha Bodhi Society of Sri Lanka to receive them. At the time of writing they are housed in the temple of the Maha Bodhi Society, Colombo, awaiting the completion of the building.

On the 30th November, 1952, the remaining relics were duly enshrined at Sanchi on completion of the new Chetiyagiri Vihara built to receive them. There they remain, objects of the deepest veneration to pilgrims from every Buddhist country, and a lasting reminder of the lives of those in whom the Buddha's Teaching bore its finest fruit.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Bhilsa Topes, p. 300.

[2]:

The Cynosure of Sanchi, p. 28.