Between the 11th and 13th of May, 2026, the sacred Holy Relics of Tathagata Buddha - brought from the National Museum in New Delhi - rested briefly at Karsha Monastery’s Photang Gompa.

Over two days, more than 12,000 devotees came: monks in maroon robes, elderly villagers with faces etched by altitude and faith, young children, and even infants cradled in their mothers’ arms. They stood in a continuous stream of quiet reverence, not as spectators, but as participants in a living tradition.



For many outside the Himalayas, the sight of a relic exposition might evoke images of international tours or diplomatic gestures. But in Zanskar, the meaning was far more intimate.

As one local devotee put it: “Zanskar is very far. Coming to Leh is not easy for us.” That simple sentence holds the heart of a much larger truth about the state of Buddhism in India today.

For decades, India has looked outward - inviting monks to attend global forums, hosting grand conferences for foreign dignitaries, and packaging the Dharma for international consumption. These efforts have their place.



Nevertheless, the spirit of charity begins at home. It is a principle as Buddhist as the Four Noble Truths.

If India aims to effectively project its Buddhist soft power abroad, she should consider nourishing its Dharma roots on Indian soil. And that means reaching the remotest corners where the Buddha’s teachings have never faded, but where devotees have often been forgotten.

Zanskar is such a place. Accessible only by treacherous roads or small helicopters for much of the year, its monasteries - Karsha, Stongdey, Zangla - have preserved the Vajrayana tradition for centuries. Yet the faithful there rarely have the opportunity to behold physical relics of the Tathagata himself.



When the Indian Air Force helicopter carried the holy relics from the Padum Army Helipad to Leh after the Zanskar exposition, it was not merely a logistical operation. It was an acknowledgment: These mountains, these people, are not peripheral to Buddhism. They are its living heart.

The exposition was organized by the Zanskar Buddhist Association (ZBA) alongside the district administration - a model of local partnership. At Karsha Photang, the air resonated not only with the chants of Chhod prayers and the offering of Tsogs, but with the sound of Daru Tilu - traditional wooden clappers that call the community to practice.

This was not a foreign delegation’s event. It was a homecoming.

And what happened in Zanskar has a direct bearing on India’s broader Buddhist soft power in the region. Too often, her international messaging about Buddhism lacks authentic punch because of the perceived divorce from lived community engagement.

But when India can show the world - from Tokyo to Bangkok, from Ulaanbaatar to Colombo - that within its own borders, Buddhism is not a museum relic but a living, breathing path for millions of ordinary citizens, that is true soft power.

Zanskar offers more than powerful optics: strong, healthy Buddhist communities and traditions exist within India. It is credible. It is grounded. It does not need to be marketed; it radiates.

Now, after a moving fortnight, the Dharma Centre in Leh prepares for the closing ceremony of the exposition. Sangha members, officials, and laity have gathered in large numbers to pay their respects as the relics begin their journey back. But the journey does not end there.

Every monk who led a prayer in Zanskar, every grandmother who brought her grandchild for darshan (in Indian religious use, seeing a sacred person, deity, image etc), every young person who stood in line for hours under the mountain sun - they are now ambassadors. Not because a ministry appointed them, but because their faith was honoured where they live.

That is the lesson of Zanskar. Charity begins at home.

If we wish the world to see India as the land of the Buddha, we must first ensure that the Buddha’s own children - especially those in the high Himalayas, the far Northeast, and the remote villages of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra - feel the warmth of the Dharma in their own backyards.



Only then can she turn to the world with open palms, offering not a curated image, but a genuine inheritance.

May the blessings of the Tathagata’s relics remain with all who bowed their heads in Zanskar. And may India, as a nation, never forget that the farthest corner of her own land is where her greatest Buddhist spiritual strength lies.

Note: The Holy Relics of Tathagata exposition to Leh and Zanskar was organised by the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) in association with the Ladakh Buddhist Association, All Ladakh Gonpa Association; Zanskar Buddhist Association and Zanskar Gonpa Association.

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Kooi F. Lim is Managing Editor of https://buddhistchannel.tv