History of Lumbini

                                                History of Lumbini


History of Lumbini
The Lord Buddha was born in Lumbini, around 544 BC. His father was the ruler of a small State in this area. His mother was on her way to her father’s house when he was born at a small place where she had halted. Emperor Ashoka, one of India’s greatest kings who did the most to spread Buddhism in the world, visited Lumbini in 259 BC to worship at the place where the Buddha was born. In order to identify the place with Lord Buddha, he erected a giant pillar. This pillar is the only proof that Lord Buddha was born here. There is an inscription in the Brahmi language which declares that he made the village free of taxes and a recipient of wealth. The excavation work which has been undertaken recently has unearthed two Chaityas belonging to the 3rd century BC, but the Chinese traveler Huien Tsang who later visited the place had seen these buildings and described them in the 4th century AD. The Chaityas disappeared during the time in the absence of patronage.