Mss Eur F80/289(1)

Genre: Historical Events

Group portrait of the Dalai Lama, Tibetan and European officials gathered in a room in the museum, with the Kanishka relic casket on the table in the centre. The casket was found in the Kanishka Stupa at Shahji-ki-Dheri, on the outskirts of Peshawar. The Dalai Lama came down from Darjeeling to visit the Viceroy in Mar 1910. See Sir Charles Bell, 'Portrait of the Dalai Lama' (London, 1946), pp. 93-96. This photograph is reproduced facing p. 112:

'Some time before the Dalai's visit, a casket had been discovered, believed to contain three pieces of bone of the Buddha himself. They were discovered at the great chaitya or stupa of the Buddhist King Kanishka, near Peshawar, in north-western India...The Dalai Lama with his Ministers and other members of his entourage visited the Indian Museum in Calcutta, where the casket was resting temporarily. Taking the casket in his hands, he blessed all the Buddhists present, including those of his own staff, the young princes of Sikkim and Der-ge, and my Buddhist associates, by touching them on the back of the head as they stood in a semi-circle in front of him, with heads deeply bowed. It was a solemn ceremony, and all were both awed and pleased to have made so close a contact with the Founder of their religion through the medium of these precious relics.' (pp. 95-96). The relics were later sent to Mandalay; the casket itself is now in the Peshawar Museum.

Subjects = Bell Collection; museums and galleries; Tibetan rulers; reliqauries