Jewels associated with Buddha relics at the auction. The India government is threatened by Sotheby's

The auction is to take place on Wednesday. Her conduct also met with criticism from many Buddhists and art researchers around the world.

Government India He demanded a return of precious stones. In turn, the Sotheby's Auction House announced that the case is considered by him.

The Indian Ministry of Culture also turned to Chris Peppe, great -grandson of William Claxton Peppe, who in 1898 led excavations in India.

It was found that sellers who consider themselves the owners of precious stones have no right to “dispose of or misappropriation of their property”, which, as defined, is a “extraordinary heritage of humanity.”

Chris Peppe in an interview with the BBC said that the family was considering passing the relics to the faithful, but – in her opinion – it turned out to be too big a problem and the auction seemed to them “the most fair and transparent way to convey these relics to Buddhs.”

Found by William Claxton Peppe, the collection contains almost 1,800 pearls, rubies, topazes, sapphires and patterned gold tiles, and the urn in which bones were found, recognized as Buddha relics.

Treasure, dated to over 2,000 years, it was discovered in today's State Uttar Prades, in a place considered to be the birthplace of the Buddha. Nicolas Chow, chairman of Sotheby's Asia, believes that this is “one of the most unusual archaeological discoveries of all time.”

Shortly after his discovery, William Peppe gave the jewels and relics to the Indian authorities at the time. Today, the jewel and bones are in the collection of the Indian Museum in Calcutta. Only a small part remained in the hands of the finder's family. According to the house of Sotheby's Peppe, he could stop about one fifth treasure.

The ministry in its statement emphasized that jewels “cannot be treated as specimens”, but as “holy objects, placed in the grave and offered to the Holy Body” Buddha.