lumbini in southern nepal is the place where shakyamuni buddha (apostle of peace) was born about twenty-five hundred years ago in 563 bc. buddhist literatures cite that maya devi, the queen of sakya king suddhodan of kapilvastu, was travelling to her parent’s home devadaha, when she suddenly went into labour and gave birth to lord buddha here. it is also the place where the newly born prince siddhartha took his first seven. it has been listed in the unesco’s world heritage sites since 1997. it is the most sacred pilgrimage site for the millions of buddhist throughout the world and in old times was a park in kapilavastu. the nearest airport is bhairahawa which is around 22 kms away. amongst famous visitors in ancient time include indian emperor ashoka who erected a pillar here. by road it is about 170 kms from pokhara, 150 kms from chitwan national park and 270 kms from kathmandu.

places of interest:

• lumbini sacred garden: the main attraction at lumbini is the sacred garden spread over 8 sq. km and containing all of the treasures of the area. the garden also consists of bodh vihars built by different countries such as japan, myanmar, indonesia, usa to establish the buddhist religion in the garden. the tour can be done by a rickshaw and which lasts around 3 hours.
• maya devi temple: it is famous for being birth site of lord buddha and has an ancient 3 feet fall idol of maya devi carved on stone also known as birth idol, a birth maker stone preserved in glass box and the ruins from 3rd century bc to 7th century bc. the idol shows maya devi leaning to a tree while giving birth and there are two heavenly nymphs waiting to receive buddha. figure of infant buddha is at the center of the idol. the birth marker stone precisely marks the birth place of lord buddha which excavated in 1996. to the south of the temple is a pool where queen maya devi is said to have bathed and given her son his first purification bath.
• asoka pillar: standing to west of maya devi shrine lies oldest monument of nepal, asoka pillar an important historical heritage. legendary emperor ashok of india ordered the pillar to be erected in 249 bc along with an inscribed stone tablet saying “shakyamuni buddha was born here”.
• holy pushkirini lake: to the south of the maya devi temple lies famous sacred lake of ‘pushkirini’, believed to be the same sacred lake where queen maya devi bathed just before giving birth to buddha. it is also traditionally believed that lord buddha was bathed with the water from the same lake after his birth.
• world peace stupa: this 42.4 m tall stupa was constructed at lumbini to spread message of peace, friendship and goodwill in the world. the stupa was constructed as part of the campaign by japanese buddhist preacher fujing to construct world peace stupas in different parts of world. it takes about 40-50 minutes to reach here from maya devi temple.
• world peace flame: the eternal world peace flame lighted on 1st november 1986 ad by the then prince gyandra shah glows for 24 hrs a day without interruption. this flame that represents peace and fraternity in the world was brought from the united states of america as part of the celebration of the international peace year. the eternal flame can be reached at the end of a 10 minutes-walk from the maya devi.

short day trips:

• tilaurkot: the ruins of tilaurkot, about 27km west of lumbini, is an important archaeological site.  it is believed to be the remains of ancient kapilavastu, seat of the ancient shakya kingdom and prince siddhartha gautama spend his formative years. the remains include a couple of stupa bases, thick fortress walls and four gates. a museum nearby known as kapilvastu museum displays coins, black polished pottery and jewelry along with ornaments and toys which recovered from the site.