HONG KONG, May 7 -- Sotheby's on Wednesday postponed an auction of jewels associated with Buddha's remains after the Indian government opposed the sale and demanded it be halted.

The gems for auction were found buried together in reliquaries with the corporeal relics of the historical Buddha and discovered in northern India in 1898, the auction house said.

They dated back to around 240-200 BC, it said, AP reports.

But India's Ministry of Culture said in a Facebook post on Tuesday it had issued a legal notice to Sotheby's Hong Kong to demand the immediate halt of the sale, accusing the auction of violating "Indian laws, international norms and UN conventions."

In its letter to Sotheby's Hong Kong dated Monday, posted on Facebook, it sa...