A huge stone pagoda being built on the outskirts of India’s financial capital, Mumbai (Bombay) was recently opened to the public after Buddha’s ashes and bones were enshrined in it. Work on the pagoda began in 1997 and it will take at least another three years to complete.

The Mumbai pagoda may be one of the largest Buddhist structures and will be used as a centre to promote meditation (or Vipassana) as taught by Buddha, but no particular religion.

The British handed the relics over to a Buddhist society in 1920 which were kept in a monastery until 1997, when they were placed in a shrine in a shallow pit on top of the dome. Women are not allowed to visit the place where the relics are kept. This year is special for Buddha’s followers as it is 2,550 years since he attained enlightenment.