Bangkok [Thailand], April 3 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a special announcement in Thailand on Thursday, stating that India will send relics of Lord Buddha, discovered in Gujarat's Aravalli in the 1960s, to Thailand so that devotees can pay their obeisance.

He made the announcement during his speech with his Thai counterpart, PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra, in Bangkok.

Elaborating on the cultural ties between the two countries, PM Modi shared how India had sent Lord Buddha's relics to Thailand last year. He said, 'Last year, holy relics of Lord Buddha were sent from India to Thailand. It is a matter of great joy that over 4 million devotees received the opportunity to have a darshan.'

In 2024, the sacred relics of Lord Buddha, along with those of his disciples Arahata Sariputta and Arahata Maha Moggallana, were sent from India and displayed across four cities in Thailand from February 22 to March 18.

Typically housed in the National Museum in New Delhi, these holy relics rarely leave India for public exposition. This occasion marked the first time in recorded history that the relics of Buddha, along with those of Sariputta and Maha Moggallana from Sanchi, were enshrined together, wrote Ambassador Nagesh Singh in an op-ed published by the Embassy of India in Thailand.

On Thursday, PM Modi announced, 'I am happy to announce that the holy relics of Lord Buddha, which were found in Gujarat's Aravalli in 1960, will also be sent to Thailand for darshan.'

According to the Gujarat Tourism website, these relics were unearthed from Devni Mori, which contains the remains of a Buddhist monastery dating back to the 3rd- 4th century AD.

'Excavation of the stupa brought to light an inscribed casket which contained relics of Budhha. The inscription clearly mentions that the casket contains bodily relics of Buddha', the website states.

Previously, the exposition of Buddha's holy relics from India to Thailand took place in 1995-96 to mark the 50th anniversary of King Rama IX's accession to the throne. The relics of Arahata Sariputta and Arahata Maha Moggallana were brought to India in 1952 by Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the then President of the Maha Bodhi Society, as part of a Dhammayatra to several countries after being retrieved from England following India's independence.

PM Modi also highlighted the long-standing ties between India and Thailand, which were evident during the Mahakumbh earlier this year.

He said, 'Our ancient ties were also seen in India during the Mahakumbh. More than 600 Buddhist devotees from Thailand and several other countries became a part of this spiritual and cultural gathering. Mahakumbh gave a message of world peace...'

PM Modi is in Thailand to participate in the sixth BIMSTEC Summit.

The summit, scheduled for Friday, marks a significant regional engagement between India and its neighbouring countries in the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) group. (ANI)