Mumbai, Jan 28 (IANS): Raghav Jairath, who has directed the recently released documentary ‘Secrets of the Buddha Relics’, has shared that the show answers questions with regard to the reason behind the formation of Buddha relics and how they became a gateway to the spread of Buddhism.

He also said that the third instalment of the documentary was in the works in parallel while the second instalment, ‘Secrets of the Kohinoor’ was being shot. He

‘Secrets of the Buddha Relics’ focuses on the ancient legends surrounding the final days of Gautama Buddha and relics that surround the very centre of Buddhism.

Talking about the show, Raghav told IANS: “The subject of ‘Secrets of the Buddha Relics’ was with us even before ‘Secrets of the Kohinoor’. We were researching on this subject but at that time, the research wasn’t deep enough to weave a story. After the release of ‘Secrets of the Kohinoor’, we dug deeper into the subject.”

He further mentioned that while everybody knows about Buddha and his teachings, nobody knows about his last days and the formation of the relics.”

He continued: “Why did he want the relics to be formed? Why did he want the relics to be connected to the people when he didn’t believe in the concept of religion or in idol worship? These thoughts intrigued us. Another thing is that Buddha mostly travelled between the modern day Bihar, some parts of UP and the borders of Odisha, these were his main areas.”

“He never moved to China or Japan. Hence, these relics became important as they served as a door to a different world and resulted in the spread of his teachings,” he added.

Created by Neeraj Pandey of Friday Storytellers and hosted by Manoj Bajpayee, ‘Secrets of the Buddha Relics’ is available on discovery+ and will drop on February 26, 2024 on Discovery Channel.