India, Jan. 11 -- Buddhism has been India's greatest export for the last 2,000 years. With the return of one portion of the Buddha's relics from the collection of a private individual, it is an opportune moment to understand the intrinsic and inherent historicity of the Buddha.

It was Buddhist ideas that spread from India in all directions and influenced the world - be it the Greco-Roman world in the west; China, Tibet and other regions of the Silk Route; or the several island civilisations to our east. Buddhism, which was born in the Gangetic plains around 2,500 years ago, has won over the world with its ideology of compassion and commensality.

Gautam Buddha grew up as Prince Siddhartha in the Shakya clan, which controlled much of the ...