India returns Holy Relic of Queen St. Ketevan to Georgia

• 12 Jul 2021

External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar during his recent visit (first by an external affairs minister to Georgia, since the country’s independence) to Georgia, returned one part of holy relic of Queen St Ketevan to Georgia.

• One part of the holy relics still remains in India as a reminder of shared past of India and Georgia.
• In 2017, at the request of the Georgian government, India sent the relics to Georgia for exhibition for six months. This loan of relics was extended for another six months. The relics returned to India on September 30, 2018.
• The holy relics were preserved at the St. Augustine Church in Goa since the 17th century.
• Her relics were taken to India by two devoted Augustinian monks who witnessed the last years of her life.

About Queen Ketevan

• Ketevan (1560-1624) was the queen of Kakheti, a kingdom located in a region of eastern Georgia.
• Kakheti was a small kingdom, which was nestled between two mighty Islamic empires: The Ottoman Empire (in present-day Turkey) and the Safavid empire (in present-day Iran).
• She was killed at Shiraz, Iran, after prolonged tortures by the Safavid suzerains of Kakheti for refusing to give up the Christian faith and convert to Islam.
• Queen Ketevan was canonised as a saint by the Georgian Orthodox Church shortly after her death.
• Her place as a subject of veneration is attributed to her courageous stand against the demand for forcible conversion.