Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s2.t1: Lumbini
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s2.t1
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Lumbini
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One of the four holiest pilgrimage sites of the Buddhists, Lumbini, is the birth place of Siddharth Gautam. It is located in the southern terai region of Rupandehi (Rummindei) district of Nepal bordering with India. It is believed that the wife of Shakyan king Shuddhodan, Queen Mayadevi, stopped in Lumbini gardens/ forest on the way to her parents’ home in Devdaha (about 35 km from Lumbini). Attracted by the beauty of evergreen forest having abundance of sal trees in the shadow of Himalayan mountain ranges, she decided to rest here. According to several accounts, while watching the beauty of the garden/forest standing under a sal tree, Maydevi had labour pain. Holding the drooping branch of the tree she gave birth to Prince Siddharth– the future Buddha. The most widely accepted date of Buddha’s birth is Viasakh Purnima (ie, full moon day in April-May) 563 BCE. Some controversy about the date, however, still exists. Lumbini thus became among the most sacred places of the Buddhist religion.
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Incidentally, Devdaha, the ancient capital of Koli(ya) Kingdom was not only the Siddharth Gautam’s maternal home. It was also the home of his step-mother Prajapati Gautam as well as of his wife, Yashodhara’s father, King Suprabuddha.
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The discovery of Buddha’s birth-site owes much to travel descriptions of Faxian and Xuanzang. Following the leads provided by both the Chinese travellers and the discovery of an Asokan Pillar at Rummindei by the Nepali archaeologist Khadga Samsher Rana in 1896, several archaeological excavations, the latest of which was conducted recently between 1990s and 2000s jointly by Nepalese and Japanese archaeologists, claim to have found the exact location of Siddharth Gautam’s birth.
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Shaxi xingjiao temple, Jianchuan County, Yunnan Province, China
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The Rummindei Asokan Pillar inscription announces that when King Devanampriya Priyadarshi (Asoka) had been anointed 20 years, he himself visited this place and worshipped at this spot. He erected a structure/ stone pillar with wall here to mark that the Blessed One (Buddha Sakyamuni) was born here. In mark of respect for the Blessed One, Lumbini was exempted from the payment of state taxes. The pillar has an additional inscription carved by the early 14th century local king Ripu Mall to record his pilgrimage. By the 15th century, the place fell into historical obscurity due to various reasons.
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Ruins of Lumbini
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Excavations in Lumbini have now unearthed ruins of ancient monasteries and stupas of various Buddhist sects from 3rd century BCE to 15th century CE, the Mayadevi temple– where the exact spot of Buddha's birth is marked by an ancient rock stone and the famous bathing pond famous as Pushkarni (where according to legends Mayadevi bathed before the delivery).
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Presently, Lumbini has once again gained the fame as one of the holiest Buddhist pilgrim sites. Its renovation and development tasks are being carried out under the UNESCO's World Heritage schemes and the Lumbini Development Trust. In 2006, the Nepal Government established the Lumbini Buddhist University there. A large Peace Park has been developed with Chinese help. There are also plans to have temples of different sects of Buddhism from various Buddhist countries be built there. With increase in pilgrim tourists world-calls hotels and restaurants are developing. A China-based Asia Pacific Exchange Cooperation Foundation has reported to have signed a deal to invest $3 billion to develop Lumbini. Similar proposals are also afoot from other countries. Lumbini has thus woken up.
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(*Kamal Sheel*)