BUDDHA BORN IN NEPAL Official Trailer

Lumbinī  लुम्बिनी "the lovely") site in the . It is the place where, according to traditiongave birth to Siddhartha Gautama in 563  Gautama, who achieved some time around 528 BCE became the  and founded  Lumbini is one of many magnets for pilgrimage that sprang up in places pivotal to the life of Gautama Buddha; other notable pilgrimage sites include  and 

Lumbini has a number of temples, including the  and several others which are still under construction. Many monuments, and a museum — the  — are also located within the holy site. Also located there is the Puskarini or Holy Pond where the Buddha's mother took the ritual dip prior to his birth and where he, too, had his first bath. At other sites near Lumbini, earlier Buddhas were, according to tradition, born, achieved ultimate Enlightenment and finally relinquished their earthly forms.

In 1896, Nepalese archaeologists (led by Khadga Samsher Rana and assisted by discovered a great  at Lumbini. Führer postulated that the pillar was placed at the site by  (emperor of the  circa 245 BCE. Records made by the Chinese pilgrim  in the early fifth century were also used in the process of identifying this religiously acclaimed site.

Recent excavations beneath existing brick structures at the Mayadevi Temple at Lumbini have uncovered evidence for an older timber structure beneath the walls of the newer brick Buddhist shrine, which was constructed during the Ashokan era. The layout of the Ashokan shrine closely follows that of the earlier timber structure, which suggests a continuity of worship at the site. The pre-Mauryan timber structure appears to be an ancient (tree shrine), consisting of postholes and a wooden railing surrounding a clay floor containing mineralized tree roots that appears to have been worn smooth by visitors. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal from the wooden postholes and optically stimulated luminescence dating of elements in the soil suggests human activity (possibly pre-Buddhist tree worship) began at the site around 1000 BCE, followed by the development of a Buddhist monastery-like community by approximately 550 BCE.