Historical Description
The Shakya Prince Siddharta Gautama, better known as the Lord
Buddha, was born to Queen Mayadevi, wife of King Suddodhana, ruler of
Kapilavastu, in 623 BC at the famous gardens of Lumbini, while she was
on a journey from her husband's capital of Tilaurakot to her family home
in Devadaha.
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| pillar built by Indian Emperor Ashoka in 249 BC |
In 249 BC the devout Buddhist Emperor Ashoka, third of the Mauryan
rulers of India, made a pilgrimage to this very sacred area in company
with his teacher, Upagupta, and erected pillars at Lumbini, Gotihawa,
and Niglihawa, as he did in many parts of India, to commemorate his
visit. The inscription on the Lumbini pillar identifies this as the
birthplace of the Lord Buddha.
Lumbini was a site of pilgrimage until the 15th century AD. Its early
history is well documented in the accounts of Chinese travellers,
notably Fa Hsien (4th century AD) and Hsuan Tsang (7th century AD), who
described the temples, stupas, and other establishments that they
visited there. In the early 14th century King Ripu Malla recorded his
pilgrimage in the form of an additional inscription on the Ashoka
pillar.
The reasons for its ceasing to attract Buddhist pilgrims after the
15th century remain obscure. The only local cult centred on worship of a
3rd-4th century image of Mayadevi as a Hindu mother goddess. The
Buddhist temples fell into disrepair and eventually into ruins, not to
be rediscovered until they were identified in 1896 by Dr A Fiihrer and
Khadga Samsher, then Governor of Palpa, who discovered the Ashoka
pillar. FOR detail VISIT US
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