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.