Buddhist relics at Qila Rai Pithora

Images from the Qila Rai Pithora complex: both the park, which has been a favourite walking space for me for around 15 years (it’s a five-minute walk from my house in Saket), and the new exhibition “The Light and the Lotus: Relics of the Awakened One”, which is currently hosted here. Well worth going to, whether or not you have a special interest in Buddhist history.

I visited the exhibition yesterday and was impressed by the work that has gone into turning the previously unremarkable interiors into a full-fledged (though temporary) museum space. (Of course, there is also the inevitable “pre-2014 vs post-2014” PR work being done there for the government, with videos of Pitamah Chhappan looking sagacious and busy.)

In the past few months, when renovation work was going on here, and then when Modi came for the inauguration, my main concern was about the possible relocation of the aged Pithora dogs. Thankfully that didn’t happen. The park is looking neat and clean, and there are plenty of visitors every day including groups of monks and foreign tourists. (One could have done with fewer machine-gun-wielding security people, but that can’t be helped I guess.) The exhibition is on for another 3-4 months. Delhi-ites, and people visiting Delhi, try to go across soon.