HONG KONG (AP) — In the wake of vociferous opposition from the Indian government, culminating in a peremptory demand for its cessation, Sotheby's on Wednesday deferred an auction featuring jewels purportedly linked to the relics of the Buddha.

The auction house disclosed that the gemstones slated for auction were unearthed in 1898 in northern India, interred within reliquaries alongside the somatic relics of the historical Buddha; their provenance traced back to approximately 240–200 BC.

However, the Ministry of Culture in India declared via a communiqué disseminated through the Facebook platform on Tuesday that it had served a formal legal injunction upon Sotheby’s Hong Kong, mandating the instant cessation of the auction, asserting that the impending sale contravened “domestic Indian statutes, prevailing international conventions, and pertinent United Nations protocols.”

In correspondence dispatched to Sotheby's Hong Kong on the specified Monday, and subsequently disseminated via Facebook, the contention was posited that the scheduled auction encompasses revered Buddhist artifacts deemed to constitute the non-negotiable religious and cultural patrimony of both India and the global Buddhist diaspora. The communication unequivocally called for the immediate repatriation of these relics to the custody of the Indian government, alongside an unreserved public mea culpa from both the auction house itself and Mr. Chris Peppé.

Peppé is a great-grandson of the illustrious British figure, William Peppé, whose renown derives from his excavation of the relics.

The Indian government, in a communiqué, issued a stark caution that non-compliance would precipitate judicial repercussions and extensive public advocacy campaigns designed to underscore the auction house's complicity "in the perpetuation of colonial injustice and its role as an accessory to the unethical divestiture of religious relics."

Sotheby's communicated the deferral via a Wednesday statement, conceding the cogency of the concerns articulated by the Indian government and confirming the concurrence of the consignors in the decision.

"This desideratum facilitates discursive engagements among the principals; we anticipate apprising stakeholders of material developments commensurate with their pertinence," the communiqué stated.

As of Wednesday, a number of Sotheby's web pages pertaining to the auction were no longer extant.

The Indian Ministry of Culture, via a Facebook communiqué issued on Wednesday, conveyed its profound satisfaction at the auction's deferral, a development it unequivocally ascribed to its direct and decisive intercession.