०४ · Birthplace of the Buddha
Lumbini
The garden where Siddhartha Gautama was born, more than two and a half thousand years ago.
Rupandehi, western Terai
Where
Near Bhairahawa, by the Indian border
Altitude
About 150 m
Best time
Oct to Mar. Buddha Jayanti in Baisakh
Time needed
One to two days
Status
UNESCO World Heritage, 1997
Photograph by Rangan Datta Wiki, CC BY-SA 4.0
The story
Buddhist tradition holds that Queen Maya Devi stopped in a garden at Lumbini on her way to her parents' home, and gave birth to Siddhartha holding the branch of a sal tree. He would leave his palace, find enlightenment and become the Buddha.
In 249 BCE the emperor Ashoka came here on pilgrimage and raised a stone pillar inscribed to mark the place. The pillar was rediscovered in 1896, and it still stands beside the Maya Devi Temple, where a marker stone under the floor shows the spot of the birth.
Around the Sacred Garden a long canal runs through the Monastic Zone, where Buddhist countries from Japan to Germany have built monasteries in their own styles. It takes a bicycle or a rickshaw to see them all.
What to see and do.
- ०१
Maya Devi Temple
The excavated ruins and the marker stone, under a plain white shelter. Quiet, and often full of chanting pilgrims.
- ०२
The Ashoka Pillar
The oldest inscription in Nepal, and one of the oldest in South Asia.
- ०३
The Puskarini pond
Where Maya Devi is said to have bathed before the birth. Prayer flags hang over the water from the bodhi trees.
- ०४
The Monastic Zone
Thai, Chinese, Burmese, Korean, Vietnamese and German monasteries, each a small world. Hire a bicycle at the gate.
Adapted from a photograph by Shadow Ayush, CC BY-SA 4.0
Before you go
What to know.
Gautam Buddha International Airport at Bhairahawa is about 20 km away, with daily flights from Kathmandu.
April to June is very hot. Go early in the day.
Shoes come off inside the Maya Devi Temple, and photographs are not allowed inside it.
Next place
Chitwanचितवन