relicsdifferent connotation than the English term: śarīra (body, bodily struc-
ture) and dhātu (constituent part, ingredient, element, primordial matter).
Christian relics that have consisted of bodily parts or items associated
with a holy person have enjoyed popularity from ancient times to the
present. The Christian veneration of relics is closely associated and influ-
enced by the cult of martyrs. The influence exerted by the Christian cult
of relics changes notions of who is and who is not dead. In fact, martyrs,
witnesses to their faith, are not dead because they continued to live in
their relics. The Christian cult of relics in Europe manifests political and
economic significance for rulers and towns because it legitimates rulers
who protect the relics, and it provides economic benefits for towns in
which relics are located when pilgrims journey to visit the various sites.
The saint or martyr may be dead, but their relics are alive and powerful
with the ability to perform miracles. The relics of many saints and mar-
tyrs are housed under altars, a custom that proliferates between the fifth
and ninth centuries for both symbolic and practical reasons. The multiple
altars symbolize the presence of saints because of the relics that they
house, and create a symbolic community of saints. Moreover, the mul-
tiple altars enable the practical simultaneous celebration of many
masses.
Besides Christianity, Buddhism is another religious tradition in which
relics play a significant role in any of their three types: body relics (hair,
nails, teeth, or bones); contact relics (bowls, robes, robe fibers, or bodhi
trees); dharma relics (whole texts, or a dharma verse). Buddhist relics
embody the qualities of the historical Buddha, are considered alive, own
property, and perform miracles. Although relics are not precisely the
Buddha, they render him present. In addition, relics are expressions and
extensions of the Buddha’s biography by telling a narrative and embody
the whole of the Buddha’s coming and going in a threefold sequence: his
descent from heaven to earth to be born, his decision to preach, and the
collection of his relics, which is the third coming into the world. This
scenario suggests that the Buddha’s relics are spreaders and continuators
of his presence, and serve as a historically effective means for spreading
Buddhism to those countries where it is not known. The biographical
aspects of the Buddha’s relics are episodic in nature by recalling particu-
lar events in his life. By also referring to the process of achieving enlight-
enment, the relics recall for devotees the entire biography of the
Buddha.
The Buddha’s relics and those of Buddhist saints embody and objectify
charisma, and this occurs in three ways: the importance of lineage as, for
instance, with the bodhi tree; the performance of miracles; and an eso-
teric strategy of charisma that revolves around keeping the relics hidden.