Lumbini — Birthplace of the Buddha
Rupandehi District, Nepal · 1949
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27.48330°N, 83.27610°E
Key Facts
- ◆ One of the four principal Buddhist pilgrimage sites — the exact birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama.
- ◆ The Ashoka Pillar, erected in 249 BCE, was rediscovered in 1895 and is the primary archaeological proof of the site.
- ◆ The site was then badly neglected; a Hindu woman caretaker did not know who the Buddha was.
- ◆ Sangharakshita and Buddharakshita crossed on foot from Nautanwa through the Nepal Terai jungle.
- ◆ He scattered flowers at the foot of the Ashoka Pillar with a full heart.
- ◆ The pillar reads in Brahmi: 'Here the Blessed One was born'.
“‘Here the Blessed One was born.’”
— Ashoka’s Pillar, Lumbini, quoted in The Rainbow Road
“The truncated stone shaft stood so calmly and so simply beneath the cloudless blue sky; it seemed so unpretentious, and yet to mean so much.”
— The Rainbow Road
Source: The Rainbow Road
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