HONG KONG (AP) — Sotheby's, in a move precipitated by the Indian government's vociferous opposition and peremptory demand for cessation, elected on Wednesday to indefinitely suspend an auction of highly prized jewels reputedly linked to the corporeal relics of the Buddha.

According to the auction house, the gems offered at auction, unearthed in northern India in 1898 interred alongside corporeal relics of the historical Buddha within reliquaries, date back to approximately 240-200 BC.

Notwithstanding, the Indian Ministry of Culture averred in a Facebook missive on Tuesday its issuance of a legal injunction upon Sotheby's Hong Kong, demanding the instantaneous cessation of the sale and alleging the auction's contravention of "Indian statutes, international protocols, and UN accords."

In a correspondence dispatched to Sotheby's Hong Kong on Monday, subsequently disseminated via Facebook, it was asserted that the impending auction concerns venerable Buddhist artefacts deemed integral to the indivisible religious and cultural patrimony of India and the worldwide Buddhist adherents. Consequently, a demand was issued for the immediate restitution of these relics to the Indian government, along with an unreserved public mea culpa from both the auction house and Chris Peppé.

Peppé is a lineal descendant of the esteemed British archaeologist, William Peppé, who was instrumental in the exhumation of the aforementioned relics.

The Indian government, in a formal missive, unequivocally cautioned that non-compliance would precipitate judicial proceedings and coordinated public discourse initiatives, designed to underscore the auction house's complicity "in the perpetuation of colonial inequity and its role as an accessory to the ethically questionable disposition of sacrosanct artefacts."

Sotheby's disclosed the deferral in a communiqué issued on Wednesday, acknowledging the concerns articulated by the Indian government and asserting its undertaking with the concurrence of the consignors.

"This measure will enable profound discourse between the respective parties, and we anticipate disseminating relevant updates as and when they become pertinent," it stated.

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

The Indian Ministry of Culture, through a Facebook communiqué on Wednesday, expressed its profound satisfaction regarding the auction's deferral, a direct consequence of its decisive intervention.