The Buddha and Dr. F'Uhrer: An Archaeological Scandal

by Charles Allen

Set against the background of the British Raj, this is the true story of the scandal that surrounded the discovery in 1898 of an inscribed casket said to contain the ashes of the Buddha. ? A British landowner, William Claxton Peppe, had excavated a large brick stupa on his estate close to India 's border with Nepal . Twenty-four feet under the earth he found a stone coffer containing a number of reliquary vases together with jewels and gold offerings. This discovery was followed by the opening of the Piprahwa stupa near the birthplace of the Buddha, Lumbini, and the legendary city of Kapilavastu where he had grown into manhood as Prince Siddhartha. But more importantly, an inscription had been discovered on top of one of the caskets, declaring it to contain the ashes of the Buddha left there by members of his own Sakya clan. This news aroused worldwide interest. Almost immediately, however, a British magistrate, who himself had a stake in the excavation, exposed the discovery in court, stating that a German archaeologist, Dr Anton F?hrer, who had been associated with the dig, had made bogus claims and faked his results. ? Renowned Indian expert Charles Allen tells this fascinating story, weaving in the results of a conference held at Harewood House in June 2006 on the Piprahwa dig with those of recent carbon dating.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

292 pages, Unknown Binding

First published September 6, 2011

About the author

Charles Allen is a British writer and historian. He was born in India, where several generations of his family served under the British Raj. His work focuses on India and South Asia in general. Allen's most notable work is Kipling Sahib, a biography of Rudyard Kipling. His most recent work, Ashoka: the Search for India's Lost Emperor, was published in February 2012.

Selected works:

Plain Tales from the Raj: Images of British India in the Twentieth Century (1975)
Raj: A Scrapbook of British India 1877–1947 (1977)
Tales from the Dark Continent: Images of British Colonial Africa in the Twentieth Century (1979)
A Mountain in Tibet: The Search for Mount Kailas and the Sources of the Great Rivers of India (1982)
Tales from the South China Seas: Images of the British in South-East Asia in the Twentieth Century (1983)
Lives of the Indian Princes, with co-author Sharada Dwivedi (1984)
Kipling's Kingdom: His Best Indian Stories (1987)
A Glimpse of the Burning Plain: Leaves from the Journals of Charlotte Canning (1986)
A Soldier of the Company: Life of an Indian Ensign 1833–43 (1988)
Architecture of the British Empire, Ed. R. Fermor-Hesketh (1989)
The Savage Wars of Peace: Soldiers' Voices 1945–1989 (1990)
Thunder and Lightning: The RAF in the Gulf War (1991)
The Search for Shangri-La: A Journey into Tibetan History (1999)
India Through the Lens: Photography 1840–1911, Ed. Vidya Dehejia (2000)
Soldier Sahibs: The Men who Made the North-west Frontier (2000)
The Buddha and the Sahibs: The Men who Discovered India's Lost Religion (2002)
Duel in the Snows: The True Story of the Younghusband Mission to Lhasa (2004)
Maharajas: Resonance from the Past (2005)
God's Terrorists: The Wahhabi Cult and the Hidden Roots of Modern Jihad (2006)
Kipling Sahib: India and the Making of Rudyard Kipling (2007)
The Buddha and Dr Führer: An Archaeological Scandal (2008)
The Taj at Apollo Bunder: The History of the Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai, with co-author Sharada Dwivedi (2011)
Ashoka: The Search for India's Lost Emperor (2012)

Reviews

[Adarsh Nair · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charles Allen not just writes about Indian history but promotes it better than any tourism commercial. The book is a reminder to us Indians about the rich legacy of our country and a lot of which sadly is in immediate need of preservation.

[Dipankar Sarkar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe a couple of more maps on the topic would have made one version of this a collector's item :).

[Rajendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A riveting story not only about one particular excavation and related scandal, but of quest for locating important Buddhist sites along India-Nepal border. In the process, the book brings to life the history of Buddhism in India. Very enjoyable book, despite author's obvious pleasure in berating everything that is Hindu.

[Anuradha Goyal · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://www.anuradhagoyal.com/the-bud...

[Salvatore Familia]

This true account of the scandal that enveloped the discovery in 1898 of an inscribed casket said to contain the ashes of the Buddha, is set against the background of the high noon of the British Raj. In January 1898 a British landowner, William Claxton Peppé, excavated a large Buddhist brick stupa on his estate close to India’s border with Nepal. At a depth of 24 feet he uncovered a huge stone coffer. What made this discovery so important was an inscription found on the top of one of the reliquary caskets - declaring it to contain ashes of the Buddha. This news aroused world-wide interest since no other so well authenticated relics of the Buddha had ever been found. But almost immediately it became known that a German archaeologist, Dr Anton Führer, working nearby at the same time had not only made bogus claims and faked his results but had also been associated with the dig. Führer was quickly unmasked by a British magistrate who himself had a stake in the excavation.