The inauguration of the public exposition of the Devnimori relics of the Buddha from India commenced yesterday (4). 

The Indian aircraft bearing the relics, initially flown to Delhi, arrived at the BIA Katunayake at around 1 p.m. The relics were accompanied by a high-level Indian delegation led by the Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat, and the Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat, Harsh Sanghavi, along with senior Buddhist monks and officials. 

Under the facilitation of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and with the support of the Indian Government, the exposition of the relics commenced at the Gangaramaya Temple in Hunupitiya, Colombo, under the patronage of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. The exposition will be held for seven days, from today (5) to 7 a.m. on 11 February of this year (2026). Special extensive security and transport arrangements and plans have also been made and put in place.  

The relics, discovered on 14 January 1963, during excavations at the Devnimori site located near Shamlaji in the Aravalli District of North Gujarat, have never before been taken outside India. The site was first explored in 1957 by archaeologist Prof. S.N. Chowdhry. The relics were enshrined at The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara. The relic casket found within the Devnimori Stupa at a height of 24 feet from the base is made out of green schist. It is inscribed in Brahmi script and Sanskrit language and reads. “dashabala sharira nilay - the abode of the Buddha’s bodily relic”. It holds a copper box having organic matter with ashes, with silk cloth and beads. The casket consists of three parts: the body (6.8″ base, 2.9″ height, and 4″ ledge diameter), the lid (6.7″ diameter, 1.05″ thickness, and 0.7″ height), and a knob with a rounded top (0.66″ high, and 1.1″ diameter).