Lumbini

Lumbini was a nature reserve between the towns of Kapilavatthu and Devadaha and was where Siddhatta Gotama, who later became the Buddha, was born. It is located in present day Nepal.

Maha Maya was on her way to Devadaha to have her baby when the birth pangs began and the child was born in Lumbini instead. In later centuries Lumbini became an important centre of pilgrimage and remained so until at least the beginning of the 14th century.

After the disappearance of Buddhism in India, Lumbini was gradually overgrown by the jungle and only was rediscovered in 1896. Today the place is located just within the border of Nepal. The most important monument at Lumbini is a huge stone pillar with an inscription by King Ashoka saying that he visited the place in the year 249 BCE. The inscription reads, ‘Twenty years after his coronation King Ashoka visited this place and worshipped because here the Buddha, the sage of the sakyans, was born. He had a stone figure and a pillar set up because the Lord was born here and the village was exempted from tax and required to pay only one eighth of the produce.’

Today it has returned to its importance as one of the four places of pilgrimage.

References

• Buddhism A to Z. Ven. Dhammika, 2007.
• http://www.mahabodhitemple.com/