Stupas and Reliquaries

Stupas are mounds or mandala-like circular structures, created to contain and enshrine the relics of sages, spiritual teachers or Enlightened Beings. They were built with inner chambers, containing small stupas within, made from precious materials, and holding reliquaries made to contain the relics. So within a large brick or stone outer structure there is an inner chamber or chambers with a smaller stupa form which opens to reveal contain the reliquary.

Stupas predate the time of Shakyamuni the Buddha, the Enlightened One. They were very much part of the conventional burial procedure of enlightened teachers, sages, saints and are as much a part of Jain and Hindu traditions as they are Buddhist. However it was following the parinirvana or spiritual passing of the historic Buddha that his remains were cremated, divided into eight equal parts which were distributed to leaders of the different tribes and stupas built over them in different parts of India and northern Pakistan. Among the places where the first stupas were built to house relics of the Buddha are locations in Gandhara and Uddiyana. Others were in Sarnath, Sanchi and important places of India and Nepal. These places acted like magnets for pilgrims, who circumambulated them as part of their spiritual experience. Around the 3rd century BC, following his conversion to Buddhism, Emperor Ashoka organized the opening of the eight original stupas and further divided the precious relics. He distributed these relics among the thousands of stupas that he had built for merit-making.

The stupas and reliquaries in this exhibition come from the greater Gandhara and Uddiyana cultural zone, which includes northern Pakistan as well as parts of Afghanistan. They date from circa the 1st century AD or perhaps earlier, up to the 4th or 5th century AD. They are in a wide range of sizes – from the magnificent nearly two meter high bronze Gandharan stupa, which is perhaps the largest example in bronze seen thus far, to exquisite miniature examples. The materials of their construction range from bronze to silver, gold and crystal.

The reliquaries were very often re-used extremely precious items such as perfume containers, lidded cosmetic vases, jewelry boxes and so forth – often made from very precious materials such as crystal, garnet, gold, silver and other materials. This exhibition features a number of extremely rare and fine crystal stupas decorated with gold and with inner relic chambers some of which still include precious
items donated at the time of the deposit. Items such as pieces of jewelry, rings, beads, precious and semi-precious carvings of auspicious animals, and things of personal significance to the donor. By depositing these within the reliquary along with the funerary relics of the spiritually developed, all placed within the greater stupa, the donor retained a connection with their teacher or seer.

The reliquaries in this exhibition include some exquisite examples – some of them decorated with gold of seemingly of Greek workmanship – notably with miniature gold "granulization" applied, an extremely difficult technique normally seen only among the very best of ancient Greek jewelry. In fact the finest of these miniature stupas and precious reliquaries were most likely produced by jewelers. These precious stupas and reliquaries exemplify the high spiritual ideals of the personages for whom they were created and the spiritual expectations of their patron-donors. That they have survived is, in itself, extraordinary. That they are now being shown for the first time in Tibet House, New York, is highly appropriate and hopefully is an indication of the ongoing spiritualization of the city in particular and the USA in general.