51�Թ�

The auction house Sotheby's has postponed its sale in Hong Kong of hundreds of sacred jewels linked to the Buddha's remains, after a threat of legal action by the Indian government.

A British official named William Claxton Peppé unearthed the relics in northern India nearly 130 years ago, alongside bone fragments identified as belonging to the Buddha himself.

The Indian government has threatened to take legal action against Sotheby's in Hong Kong unless they stop an upcoming auction of jewels linked to the Buddha's remains and requested their return to India.

The jewels "cannot be treated as specimens" but as the "sacred body and originally interred offerings to the sacred body" of the Buddha, the post said.

On Wednesday, a cache of dazzling jewels linked to the Buddha's mortal remains, which have been hailed as one of the most astonishing archaeological finds of the modern era, will go under the hammer at Sotheby's in Hong Kong.