Bodily relics in Gandharan stupas The Buddha's bodily relics in the Māhaparinibbāna-sutta.

Śarira, or what is generally translated as (bodily) relics of the Buddha or Buddhist saints, has long occupied an important place in the stupa cult of the Buddhist world. As widely known, there are stupas that contain nothing while those that have 'relics' do not always contain what is expected to see: the bone fragments or ashes of 'bodily remains'. This paper serves as a survey of the occurrence of (bodily) relics in stupas of the areas that are parts of greater Gandhara that is present day eastern Afghanistan and Taxila. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]