Lumbini, the place where Buddha was born

Located some twenty kilometres from the small border town of Bhairawah is Lumbini, Buddha's birthplace.It is one of the four major Buddhist pilgrimage places based on events in the life of Buddha. Lumbini was "lost" for centuries. Only in 1895 German archaeologist Dr.Feuhrer began excavating the ruins of the area and discovered a massive stone pillar which was found to have been erected by the Indian Emperor Ashoka. The pillar was erected in 250 BC when Ashoka visited the place. There is an inscription on the pillar in Sanskrit “Buddha Sakyamuni, the blessed one was born here".

One of the greatest archaeological discoveries in Lumbini is the discovery of a stone giving the exact location of the Buddha's birth. It is believed to be placed there by Ashoka.
Another important shrine in Lumbini is the temple of Maya Devi, Buddha's mother. This temple is totally rebuilt and has a stone relief depicting the birth scene of Siddhartha Gautam. The bas-relief shows the new born Gautam standing upright on a lotus flower while Maya Devi supporting herself by holding a branch of the sal tree is fondly looking at her child.

Next to the temple there is a sacred pond called "pushkarni". Maya Devi is believed to have taken her bath in this pond before giving birth.

Nowadays Lumbini is a large park zone with numerous monasteries, temples and stupas built by buddhists from different countries. All the buildings have their unique architectural style: Thai, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and more.

Lumbini is the UNESCO World Heritage site