INDIAN HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Siddhartha Gautama, the Lord Buddha, was born in 623 B.C. in the famous gardens of Lumbini, which soon became a place of pilgrimage. Among the pilgrims was the Indian emperor Ashoka, who erected one of his commemorative inscribed Ashoka pillars there. The inscription on the pillar is the oldest in Nepal.

Detailed explanation-2: -According to Buddhist sources the name Kapilvatthu means “tawny area", due to the abundance of reddish sand in the area. Kapilavastu never became a major pilgrimage site like Buddha’s birthplace at Lumbini not far away, which would have left unmistakeable remains.

Detailed explanation-3: -Holding on to the branch of a sal tree, Maya (right) gives birth to Siddhartha Gautama, who will become the Buddha (left) in this second-or third-century A.D. relief from modern-day Pakistan, now in the Guimet Museum, France.