Lumbini Birth place
of the Buddha
Lumbini is the place
where the Buddha, known as the Tathagata* was born.
It is the place which should be visited and seen by
a person of devotion and which should cause awareness
and apprehension of the nature of impermanence.' *
Tathagata - One who has found the Truth.
The birthplace of the Gautama Buddha, Lumbini, is
the Mecca of every Buddhist, being one of the four
holy places of Buddhism. It is said in the Parinibbana
Sutta that Buddha himself identified four places of
future pilgrimage: the sites of his birth, enlightenment,
first discourse, and death. All of these events happened
outside in nature under trees. While there is not
any particular significance in this, other than it
perhaps explains why Buddhists have always respected
the environment and natural law.
The bas relief above
depicts Maya Devi with her right hand holding on to
a branch of a sal tree with a newborn child standing
upright on a lotus petal, shedding an oval halo, around
his head, while two celestial figures pour water and
lotuses from vessels of heaven as indicated by the
delineation of clouds. This nativity scene was installed
by Malla Kings of the Naga dynasty from about the
11th to 15th Century in the Karnali zone of Nepal.
In 249 BC, when the Emperor Ashoka visited Lumbini
it was a flourishing village. Ashoka constructed four
stupas and a stone pillar with a figure of a horse
on top. The stone pillar bears an inscription which,
in English translation, runs as follows: "King
Piyadasi (Ashoka), beloved of devas, in the 20 year
of the coronation, himself made a royal visit, Buddha
Sakyamuni having been born here, a stone railing was
built and a stone pillar erected to the Bhagavan having
been born here, Lumbini village was taxed reduced
and entitled to the eight part (only)".
Lumbini is situated at the foothills of the Himalayas
in modern Nepal. In the Buddha's time, Lumbini was
a beautiful garden full of green and shady Sal trees
(Shorea). The garden and its tranquil environs were
owned by both the Shakyas and Kolias clans. King Suddhodana,
father of Gautama Buddha was of the Shakya dynasty
belonging to the Kshatriya or the warrior caste. Maya
Devi, his mother, gave birth to the child on her way
to her parent's home in Devadaha while taking rest
in Lumbini under a sal tree in the month of May in
the year 642 B.C. The beauty of Lumbini is described
in Pali and Sanskrit literature. Maya Devi it is said
was spellbound to see the natural grandeur of Lumbini.
While she was standing, she felt labor pains and catching
hold of a drooping branch of a Sal tree, the baby,
the future Buddha, was born.
This bas relief depicts Maya Devi with her right hand
holding on to a sal tree with a newborn child standing
upright on a lotus petal, shedding an oval halo, around
his head. This nativity scene of the future Buddha
was installed by a Malla King of the Naga dynasty
who ruled over two states which flourished from about
the 11th to the 15th century in the Karnali zone of
Nepal. The original Maya Devi sculpture was restored
by archeologists. The nativity scene is worshipped
both by Buddhists and Hindus. Besides the original
nativity sculpture, there is a marble copy of the
original (see above), made by a famous Nepalese artist,
Chandra Man Maskey in about 1956.
Maya Devi Temple
Lumbini remained neglected
for centuries. In 1895, Feuhrer, a famous German archaeologist,
discovered the great pillar while wandering about
the foothills of the Churia range. Further exploration
and excavation of the surrounding area revealed the
existence of a brick temple and a sandstone sculpture
within the temple itself which depicts the scenes
of the Buddha's birth.
It is pointed out by scholars that the temple of Maya
Devi was constructed over the foundations of more
than one earlier temple or stupa, and that this temple
was probably built on an Ashokan stupa itself. On
the south of the Maya Devi temple there is the famous
sacred bathing pool known as Puskarni. It is believed
that Maha Devi took a bath in this pool before the
delivery. By the side of the Ashoka pillar there is
a river which flows southeast and is locally called
the 'Ol' river. In 1996, an archaeological dig unearthed
a "flawless stone" placed there by the Indian
Emperor Ashoka in 249 BC to mark the precise location
of the Buddha's birth more than 2,600 years ago, if
authenticated, the find will put Lumbini even more
prominently on the map for millions of religious pilgrims.
Recently, several beautiful shrines have been built
by devotees from Buddhist countries. A visit to Lumbini,
the birthplace of Buddha, is not only for spiritual
enlightenment but also for solace and satisfaction
that one gets in such a calm and peaceful place.
