India, Nov. 13 -- In November this year, Arunachal Pradesh's two Buddhist traditions are coming together in an exhibition centered around relics of the Buddha himself. The relics come from the Piprahwa stupa in Siddharthnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, a site linked with ancient Kapilavastu and the Buddha's Shakya clan. They were excavated in 1898 by William Claxton Peppe and are kept at the National Museum in Delhi. The exhibition marks the return of Buddha's relics to the state after 13 years. In the land where Padmasambhava is honoured as a second Buddha, devotees are now venerating relics of the first.

High in the mountains of western Arunachal Pradesh, prayer flags, whitewashed chortens (stupas) and cliffside monasteries mark the land...