Photo shows five precious sariras inside an octagonal container discovered in Xiangyang city, Central China's Hubei province. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

Archaeologists recently discovered five precious sariras at an ancient tomb in Xiangyang city in Central China's Hubei province.

Sariras normally refer to Buddhist relics and are crystal-like, bead-shaped objects that are believed to be collected from the cremated ashes of Buddhist masters.

Chen Qianwan, head of the Xiangyang Archaeology Institute, said that it is very rare to find Buddhist relics in a tomb, as they are usually unearthed at Buddhist temples.

The sariras are usually kept in sacred containers. The most recent find was embedded on the top of a tomb belonging to an official from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) at the foot of the Xianshan Mountain in Xiangyang, according to Chen.

The largest of the sariras has a diameter of about three centimeters. In the light, through careful observation, they vary in colors from red, purple, blue, cyan and orange.

Chen said that archaeologists accidently found the objects in an octagonal container in late December while cleaning the ancient tomb.

The objects were later identified by prestigious monks and researchers as sariras, and they believed that the owner of the tomb was a Buddhist.

The findings are said to be of great archaeological value and will be kept in the city's museum.