Holy relics of Lord Buddha to be transported to Vietnam by special IAF aircraft for exposition

New Delhi | The holy relics of Lord Buddha enshrined at a vihara in Uttar Pradesh's Sarnath are slated to be transported to Vietnam by a special Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft from the Hindan Air Base in Ghaziabad on Thursday night for an exposition in that country in May, officials said.

The exposition of the holy relics will be held in Vietnam during the gala celebrations of the United Nations Day of Vesak from May 2 to 21.

The sacred relics will be transported with great reverence to Ho Chi Minh City by a special IAF aircraft, befitting the status of a "State Guest", a culture ministry official had said earlier.

The holy relics were ceremonially brought to Delhi on Wednesday and placed in a "special protected enclosure" at the National Museum for prayers for a couple of hours.

On Thursday evening, the holy relics of Lord Buddha were taken from the National Museum to the Hindan Air Base with full "state honours" in a "special bulletproof vehicle" after rituals at the museum for their onward journey to Vietnam, the officials said.

Monks and nuns chanted prayers as the sacred relics were taken out of the National Museum and on to the special vehicle.

There will be a "special Air Force guard of honour" for the send-off at the airport, the senior official said.

As a special gesture, around 120 monks came from Vietnam, performed rituals at the National Museum and paid their obeisance to the holy relics, he said.

These relics of the Buddha, enshrined in the Mulagandha Kuti Vihara, were excavated in Nagarjuna Konda, a prominent site in Andhra Pradesh.

In Vietnam, the sacred relics will be ceremoniously enshrined, venerated and worshipped at several important sites.

These include the Hanh Tam Monastery in Ho Chi Minh city from May 2 to 8,(coinciding with the UN Day of Vesak 2025), the Ba Den Mountain in Tay Ninh province from May 9 to 13 (southern Vietnam's national spiritual pilgrimage site), the Quan Su Monastery in Hanoi from May 14 to 18 (the headquarters of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha) and finally, the Tam Chuc Monastery in Ha Nam province from May 18 to 21 (the largest Buddhist centre in Southeast Asia), the culture ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.