New finds at Lumbini may push Buddha's birth to 6th century BCE

NEW DELHI: Remains of a tree shrine found buried below the Maya Devi temple in Lumbini, Nepal, may push back the date of Buddha's birth to the 6^th century BCE. The temple is located on what traditionally was thought to be the birth place of Buddha - his mother Maya Devi gave birth to Sidhartha while holding on to a tree branch.

Excavations within the Maya Devi Temple, a Unesco World Heritage site, uncovered the remains of a previously unknown sixth-century B.C. timber structure under a series of brick temples. Laid out on the same design as those above it, the timber structure contains an open space in the center that links to the story of Buddha's birth.

This is the first archaeological material linking the life of the Buddha-and thus the first flowering of Buddhism-to a specific century. Until now, the earliest archaeological evidence of Buddhist structures at Lumbini dated no earlier than the third century B.C., the time of the patronage of the Emperor Asoka, who promoted the spread of Buddhism from present-day Afghanistan to Bangladesh.

"Very little is known about the life of the Buddha, except through textual sources and oral tradition," said archaeologist professor Robin Coningham of Durham University, UK, who co-led the investigation. "Now, for the first time, we have an archaeological sequence at Lumbini that shows a building there as early as the sixth century B.C."

The exact date of the Buddha's birth is yet to be established. In Nepal the year 623 BCE is favored while in other traditions more recent dates, around 400 BCE are accepted.

The first clear date linking Lumbini with Buddha is 249 BCE when emperor Ashoka installed a pillar marking it as a sacred place. Lost and overgrown in the jungles of Nepal in the medieval period, ancient Lumbini was rediscovered in 1896 and identified as the birthplace of the Buddha on account of the presence of a third-century B.C. sandstone pillar. The pillar, which still stands, bears an inscription documenting a visit by Emperor Asoka to the site of the Buddha's birth as well as the site's name-Lumbini.

The international team of archaeologists, led by Coningham and Kosh Prasad Acharya of the Pashupati Area Development Trust in Nepal, say the discovery contributes to a greater understanding of the early development of Buddhism as well as the spiritual importance of Lumbini. Their peer-reviewed findings are reported in the December 2013 issue of the international journal Antiquity. The research is partly supported by the National Geographic Society.

To determine the dates of the timber shrine and a previously unknown early brick structure above it, fragments of charcoal and grains of sand were tested using a combination of radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence techniques. Geoarchaeological research also confirmed the presence of ancient tree roots within the temple's central void.

Coningham and his colleagues postulate that the open space in the center of the most ancient, timber shrine may have accommodated a tree. Brick temples built later above the timber shrine also were arranged around the central space, which was unroofed.

Lumbini is one of the key sites associated with the life of the Buddha; others are Bodh Gaya, where he became a Buddha or enlightened one; Sarnath, where he first preached; and Kusinagara, where he passed away. At his passing at the age of 80, the Buddha is recorded as having recommended that all Buddhists visit "Lumbini." The shrine was still popular in the middle of the first millennium A.D. and was recorded by Chinese pilgrims as having a shrine beside a tree.

( News from The Times of India )