Subcontinent Tour
Before returning to India, the relics were taken to Sri Lanka, where they were received with fanfare. For two and a half months in 1947, they were displayed for public viewing at the Colombo Museum, where it was estimated that more than two million people of all faiths paid homage to them. The relics were then taken to Calcutta, where they were displayed for public viewing at the Dharmarajika Vihara, headquarters of the Maha Bodhi Society of India. Long queues existed for the two weeks of display, and although most of the pilgrims were Hindus, but there was also a large number of Muslims among them.
This was followed by a tour of Burma. In order that a wide cross section of Burmese society had an opportunity to view the relics, a marine tour along the Irrawaddy from Mandalay to Rangoon was commissioned, drawing vast crowds of people from the adjacent villages to hear sermons and the recitation of sutras which accompanied the tour. This was followed be tours of Nepal and Ladakh.
Read more about this topic: Relics Of Sariputra And Mahamoggallana
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