A monk carrying the relics at the Bagdogra airport on Monday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Rabong (South Sikkim), Nov. 24: The relics of Lord Buddha, collected from across eight Southeast Asian countries, arrived here today for the Sakyamuni project.

A team of 33 Thai monks, led by Jamnian Chonsakhorn, reached Bagdogra airport from Calcutta this morning with the ringsel (the Buddhist nomenclature for relics). Monks and devotees from various parts of the state had reached the airport to receive the team.

The relics had been offered by Somdet Phra Nyanasaamvara, the 19th Supreme Patriarch of the Buddhist order in Thailand.

A team led by Tashi Densapa, the director of the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology who also heads the religious committee of the Sakyamuni project, had visited Thailand in March to meet the Supreme Patriarch and requested him to give the relics.

Following the plea, a high priest, Phra Kristada of Bangkok, had agreed to be the representative of the Sakyamuni project for securing the relics from all neighbouring Buddhist countries. Besides Thailand, relics have been offered by Myanmar, Japan, South Korea, Cambodia, Laos, Taiwan and Vietnam.

The team with the relics was given sherbang (a traditional reception of the highest order of monks) by Enchey, Phodong and Ralong monasteries at Rangpo. Dignitaries led by Sikkim urban development minister and the patron of the project, D.D. Bhutia, were also there to receive the team.

The relics were taken by road to Rabong in the evening with people lining up along the route at various places to welcome the team. The relics would be handed over to the Sakyamuni project at the Mane Chokerling Complex in Rabong tomorrow. They will be kept under tight security at the newly built Karma Thekchenling Monastery till the completion of the project early next year.

The relics are likely to give the much needed significance to the project which is aimed at adding Rabong to the Buddhist religious circuit and drawing pilgrim tourists. The work on the 130feet tall Buddha statue,w hich is part of the project along with an eco-garedn, started in 2006, the year which marked the 2550th birth anniversary of Lord Buddha.

The government had decided to observe the birth anniversary throughout the year and as part of the celebrations, the people of Rabong decided to install a large statue of the Buddha. Slated to be a landmark in Sikkim’s effort in combining tourism with religion, the project has chief minister Pawan Chamling as the chief patron.

The devotees believe that after Buddha’s body had been cremated at Kusinara (now in Uttar Pradesh), the fragments that remained were divided into eight portions and sent to various kingdoms in what is now Buddhist Asia.