Relics associated with Buddha

According to Mahaparinibbana Sutta, after his death, the Gautam Buddha was cremated and the ashes divided among his followers. Originally his ashes were to go only to the Shakya clan, to which Buddha belonged; however, six clans and a king, demanded the body relics. To avoid fighting, a Brahmin Drona divided the relics into ten portions, eight from the body relics, one from the ashes of Buddha's cremation pyre and one from the pot used to divide the relics, which he kept for himself.[1] After The Buddha's Parinibbāna, his relics were enshrined and worshipped in stupas by the royals of eight countries: to Ajatasattu, king of Magadha; to the Licchavis of Vaishali; to the Sakyas of Kapilavastu; to the Bulis of Allakappa; to the Koliyas of Ramagrama; to the brahmin of Vethadipa; to the Mallas of Pava; and to the Mallas of Kushinagar[2]

A stupa is a monument specifically to house such relics. Often they were enclosed in caskets (such as the Kanishka casket or the Bimaran casket).

The "Kanishka casket", dated to 127 CE, with the Buddha
The relics were later dug up by Ashoka, and used the relics (said to have been divided into 84,000 portions) and had stupas built over them throughout the region he rules.[3] Many of the remains were taken to other countries. The Ashokavadana narrates how Ashoka redistributed Buddha's relics across 84,000 stupas, with the distribution of the relics and construction of the stupas performed by Yakshas.[4]

When the Chinese pilgrims Fa-hien and Hiuen Tsang visited India centuries later, they reported most of ancient sites were in ruin.[5]

The Lokapannatti (11th/12th century[6]) tells the story of King Ajatashatru of Magadha who gathered the Buddha's relics and hid them in an underground stupa.[7] The Buddha's relics were protected by spirit-powered mechanical robots (bhuta vahana yanta) from the kingdom of Roma visaya until they were disarmed by King Ashoka.[6][8][note 1]

The Mahaparinirvana sutra says that of the Buddha's four eye teeth (canines), one was worshipped in Indra's Heaven, the second in the city of Ghandara, the third in Kalinga, and the fourth in Ramagrama by the king of the Nagas.[9] Annually in Sri Lanka and China, tooth relics would be paraded through the streets.[10] In the past relics have had the legal right to own property; and the destruction of stupas containing relics was a capital crime viewed as murder of a living person.[11] A southeast Asian tradition says that after his parinirvana the gods distributed the Buddha's 800,000 body and 900,000 head hairs throughout the universe.[12] In Theravada according to the 5th century Buddhaghosa possessing relics was one of the criteria in Theravada for what constituted a proper monastery.[12] The adventures of many relics are said to have been foretold by Buddha, as they spread the dharma and gave legitimacy to rulers.[13]

It is said all the Buddha's relics will one day gather at the Bodhi tree where he attained enlightenment and will then form his body sitting cross legged and performing the twin miracle.[14] It is said the disappearance of the relics at this point will signal the coming of Maitreya Buddha.[15] In the Nandimitravadana translated by Xuanzang it is said that the Buddha's relics will be brought to parinirvana by sixteen great arhats and enshrined in a great stupa. That stupa will then be worshipped until it sinks into the earth down to the golden wheel underlying the universe. The relics are not destroyed by fire in this version but placed in a final reliquary deep within the earth, perhaps to appear again.[16]

Previous incarnations of the Buddha also left relics; in the Buddhavamsa it mentions that the Sobhita, Paduma, Sumedha, Atthadassi, Phussa, Vessabhu, and Konagamana buddhas have had their relics dispersed.

The relics of Buddha's disciples like Sariputta and Maugglayana, were also preserved enshrined in stupas (as in Sanchi).