> Parts of the Buddha himself have supposedly been preserved as relics...
The body of Sidharth Malhotra (Lord Buddha) was cremated and the ashes sifted to obtain 4 teeth. These teeth are the relics.
A Sri Lankan friend of mine told me that Buddha’s ear is a cherished relic there. She showed me a picture of a religious procession, with elephants, that is held annually, and the ear leads off the parade, apparently.