Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s2.t1.1

v1.c7.s2.t1.1

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.