Rediscovering Lumbini: Birth place of Prince Siduhath
Source : island
There is no doubt that this title itself will bring bemusement to the denizens of the land of Mahavamsa. An entire nation failing to recall such an important place may seem impossible, but up until the colonial occupiers started probing the past in the 19th century, the historical significance, or the geographical location of Lumbini had been completely erased from the collective memory of India and Nepal.
The history of India is undoubtedly one of the richest in the world, yet it is one of the least recorded ones as well. The chronicles of the surrounding countries have done a better job in capturing the history of this great land than its own esteemed epics, poems, and legends. For example, the Sri Lankan chronicles Deepavamsa and Mahavamsa were crucial in uncovering the origins of Buddhism and the role Emperor Asoka played in spreading it in Asia. As a result of this paucity of endogenous information, when the British started the Asiatic Society in 1784 to further Oriental Research, they were not aware that India was the birthplace of Buddhism. Observing the curly, short hair depicted on statues and carvings being discovered, they assumed that those antiquities belonged to an African cult. For a time, they confused Sri Lankan king Devanam Piya Tissa with the Devanam Piya (Asoka) of India and wondered why a Sri Lankan king would have erected commemorative pillars in India. Even today, despite years of investigations, the origins of the magnificent Bharhut temple remains a mystery.
Over 1.5 million devotees, 60 thousand of them Sri Lankans, visited Lumbini, Nepal in 2019 before the pandemic disrupted travels. However, as late as the early 20th century, there were no proper roads or facilities available for visitors. The visitors had to go on horseback or ride elephants and carry all their supplies with them. The first recorded visit to Lumbini after Parinirvana was by Emperor Asoka in the year 249 BCE. Asokawadana, a 2nd century Sanskrit poem, describes how Emperor Asoka broke down in tears when he was taken to Lumbini and explained what happened there by his spiritual teacher Upagupta. The last recorded visit prior to the 19th century developments was in 1312 by Ripu Malla King of Kathmandu. After that, the place was neglected, forgotten, and remained elusive to the modern world until 1896, hidden among groves of sal trees, only frequented by wild beasts and the few hunters who go after them.
It was Dr. Francis Buchanan, a surgeon turned botanist, charged with statistical surveys of the occupied territories by the governor of Bengal, that learned the connection between India and the founder of the religion of Ava or Inwa, a kingdom of Myanmar, known as Boodh. Based on information he gathered during his visits to Ava and Katmandu, he published a paper in 1797, the first English document describing “Buddhism,” although he did not use this term. During the next hundred years, major advances were made in the fields of Indian history and archeology. Even though epics such as Mahavamsa had textual information, it was these 19th century developments that enabled the construction of a coherent, evidence-based story that connected the localities and peoples referenced in the historical texts to present day places.
Interests of the Asiatic Society were mainly academic; driven by the curiosity of the strange land they conquered. It did not do much for exploration or preservation of Indian archaeological sites. That had to wait until the establishment of the Indian Archaeological Survey in 1862 with Alexander Cunningham, an army engineers, as its head. However, haphazard digging of ancient ruins by cavalier Indologists looking for valuables or building materials continued unabated. From a hindsight, one cannot stop wondering how much more physical evidence for Buddha and his life could have come to light if these sites were left for systematic archaeological explorations later. Unfortunately, the same could be said about burning of the libraries at Alexandria by Romans, Nalanda by Islamic invaders, or Aluvihara temple, where the Tipitaka was written, by the British in 1848.
A landmark development of this time was the deciphering of the Brahmi and Kharosthi alphabets in 1837 by James Prinsep, the Assay Master of the government mint in Benares. This provided access to inscriptions that were found in increasing numbers on pillars, rocks, and other ruins. A wide-ranging collaboration between civil servants stationed in British colonies enabled the reconstruction of the Indian history of the second half of the first millennium BCE, that has escaped from the collective memory of India. The information from Sri Lankan sources came from the reports of Robert Knox (1641-1720), and civil servants George Turnour (1799-1843) and Alexander Johnston (1775-1849) who translated historical documents. Later, they were supplemented by the works of Rhys Davids (1843 1922) and Hugh Nevill (1847-1897). At the same time, the classic poem The Light of Asia by Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904), published in 1879, kindled the Western interests on Buddhism with its mystique laden description of Buddha’s life.
However, the crucial information for the geographical locations of historical sites relevant to Buddha’s life came from two Chinese sources: the travelogues of Fa Hian and Huan Tsang. Fa Hian (Faxian, 337-422 CE) spent ten years in India and two years in Sri Lanka from 380 to 413 CE while Huan Tsang (Xuanzang, 602—664 CE) spent sixteen years in India from 627 to 643 CE. Both kept detailed records of their travels, and copied or translated many local texts to be taken back to China. It is incredible that they managed to travel such vast distances, collect that much information, and take them back to China with the limited facilities available at the time. Interestingly, according to some documents, Fa Hian and Buddhagosha had met briefly at sea while traveling to and from Sri Lanka. The Chinese travelogues contained relative positions of the sacred sites they visited: the distances, travel times, and direction of travel to reach them as well as detailed descriptions of the sites.
Bodhgaya was the first to be identified as an important Buddhist landmark, and it was Francis Buchanan who made the connection. While conducting his first statistical survey of the regions West of Calcutta in 1811, Buchana came upon the village of Gaya. He was astonished to see that all structures of the village were constructed of salvaged materials, bricks, and decorated stones of varying sizes. A local Brahmin had confirmed that they came from older constructions found abundantly in the countryside, but of unknown origin. Buchanan also observed that most of the ancient statues, carvings, and decorations were repurposed in the Hindu shrines. A statue of a Hindu deity was found to be a Buddha statue altered with clay and paint. Buchanan identified Bodhgaya as the place that the Chinese travelers described as the place where Siduhath attained enlightenment. The completion of excavation and restoration of the Bodhgaya temple complex was left to the Archaeological survey led by Cunningham after a failed restoration effort by a group sent by the King of Ava in 1879. The role of Mahabodhi society and Anagarika Dhamrmapala in this effort need not be repeated here. Bodhgaya was the first historical place associated with Buddha to be identified by modern Indologists.
After reconstructing the time and life of Emperor Asoka, most of the sites connected with the Buddha’s life were identified, excavated, and restoration works initiated by the year 1890. However, out of the four places most important to Buddhists, Lumbini, the birthplace of Prince Siduhath had not been located. The Indian Archeological Survey was broken-up in 1889, and exploration and preservation were neglected. This gave the local administrators the authority to do what they thought was best, thereby giving the opportunity for anyone to become an armature archeologist.
Two types of people entered the race to find other the remaining undiscovered important sites described in the texts, including Lumbini. First were the government officials who tried to follow the topographical directions provided in the Chinese documents. Two such professionals were Vincent Smith, who rose through the ranks to become District Magistrate and Collector and Dr. Lawrence Waddell, an officer in the Indian Medical Service. The second type were the property owners who could dig anything in their property at will. During one such random dig of a mound, a potsherd and some bone fragments were recovered, but were thrown in the river by the disappointed excavator. The interpretation of the inscriptions found there on a later date revealed that it was Buddha’s alms bowl that was thrown away.
A third type comes into the story of Lumbini in the form of one Dr. Alois Fuhrer (1853-1930). Many documents credit him with the discovery of Lumbini, but there is another, darker side to that story. He was a German Indologist working as a low-level officer for the North-Western province. His “involvement” with the discovery of Lumbini and Piprahwa relics brought him immense publicity and respect. He was adorated so much by Buddhists that one Mahabodhi Society report claimed he would become a Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka. It took a while to come to light that he was a “a forger and dealer in fake antiquities.” The unfortunate association of this shadowy figure cast doubts about the authenticity of several archeological finds of that time. What follows is an account of the lesser-known side of the Lumbini story.
The two professionals, Smith and Waddell worked independently of each other but were guided by the same information provided by Fa Hien, Huan Tsang, and the previous fieldwork by Cunningham. They both concluded that Cunningham’s earlier identifications of Bhuila and Kesia as Kapilavastu and Kusinagara, respectively, were incorrect. The geography of the Gangetic plains had shifted significantly from the time of Fa Hien and Huan Tsang due to annual flooding of the river. Cunningham assumed that Pataliputra must have been swept away leading to this mistaken identity.
After several unsuccessful explorations, Waddell managed to locate Pataliputra, emperor Asoka’s capital, just outside the present-day town of Patna. He was aided by numerous accidental finds of archaeological artefacts surfaced during several construction projects. A cartload of statues was taken away by an overseer and disappeared never to be found on one such occasion. Elaborately carved stonework had been used to build a dam. Confirmation of the location of Pataliputra gave another reference point for siting Lumbini. Based on the cartographic information given by Fa Hian, Huan Tsang, and a Tibetan Pilgrimage Guide, Waddell postulated the locations of Lumbini and Kapilavastu relative to Pataliputra and send a proposal to the government to carry out excavations.
Waddell’s proposal was approved but he was unable to carry out the work as he was assigned other duties. First, he was sent to a war front, and then appointed as the Professor of Chemistry and Pathology at Calcutta Medical College. In Dr. Waddell’s absence, Dr. Alois Fuhrer, the same person who would later come out as a fake, was appointed to carry out this work.
Rediscovering Lumbini: Birth place of Prince Siduhath – Part II – By Geewananda Gunawardana,
Ph.D
Lumbini
Source : island
The border area between Nepal and India known as the Tarai was a no-man’s land, particularly avoided by
Europeans due to risk of catching ‘Tarai fever,’ and only frequented by a few aboriginal people and hunting parties. On a hunting trip, Nepali official, Major Jaskaran Singh was told about a stone pillar near the village of Nigliva by the locals, and upon inspection he found an inscription on it. When the Nepali government asked for assistance to investigate it, Dr Lawrence Waddell instructed Dr Alois Fuhrer to assist them. Fuhrer made a rubbing of the inscription and sent it to his mentor in Germany for a translation. Waddell kept asking Fuhrer for a report but never got a response, until he saw a publication in a European journal three years later. The inscription identified the monument as the stupa of Buddha Konakamana, but Fuhrer failed to recognise its significance. Waddell knew this as the place near Kapilavastu mentioned in Chinese records, and using it as a reference, he estimated the location of Lumbini. However, Waddell failed to get government attention, and ended up publishing his findings in a Calcutta newspaper.
This publication received widespread attention, and the Bengali government finally allocated limited funds, obtained Nepali government authorisation, and assigned Fuhrer to carry out the field work. Not only did Fuhrer fail to find Lumbini, but he also ended up committing another major forgery.
In the year 1885, a local property owner, Duncan Rikketts, informed Vincent Smith, the city judge of Gorakhpur at the time, of a pillar found in his property near the village of Rummindei. Both Waddell and Smith had known about the inscription on this pillar, but the newfound evidence prompted Waddell to ask a British resident in Kathmandu to alert the Nepali team assigned to help find Lumbini. This prompted General Khadga Shamshar Jang Rana to take his team to the site and start excavations in the presence of Duncan Rikketts. The excavation uncovered a pillar 24ft high standing on a masonry platform bearing an inscription. According to Smith/Rikketts reports, Fuhrer arrived after the inscription was uncovered and made a copy. The inscription in Asokan Brahmi read:
King Piyadasi, beloved of the Devas, when anointed twenty years, came to this spot, and worshiped, saying, ‘Here was Sakyamuni born,’ and caused a stone pillar to be erected testifying ‘Here in the Lummini village was the Honourable One born.’
This could have been the final proof for the location of this all-important site, and an occasion for celebration. However, the unfortunate involvement of the unscrupulous figure Fuhrer cast doubt in some scholars’ minds about the authenticity of the inscription. Seeing the pristine condition of the inscription, and knowing Fuhrer’s reputation, some even suggested that Fuhrer may have carved the inscription himself. Others argue that he did not have sufficient in-depth knowledge of Brahmi script to accomplish that feat. Five months later, a life-size bas-relief depicting Queen Maya giving birth was found in a nearby Hindu temple providing credence to the identity of the place. Clearly, Fuhrer did not have any stone carving skills.
No further exploration or restoration took place at Lumbini for another half a century. The access to foreigners was restricted by Nepali rulers, but a German Indologist named Ernst Waldschmidt secretly visited the place in 1933. He described the place as neglected and overgrown with scattered excavations – the remnants of Sir Kaiser Shumsher’s work in 1939, and a crude but well-kept shrine built with old materials sheltering the bas-relief of the ‘nativity scene.’ In 1952, after a change in the Nepalese government, Giuseppe Tucci, a Western scholar, was allowed to visit the site. There was no proper road leading to the site and he had to ride an elephant. The site had been cleared and fields were growing in the surrounding area. He observed that the Asokan Pillar was split down the middle, likely due to a lightning strike.
Things changed in 1955 while preparing for the 2500th anniversary of the birth of Buddha the following year. King Mahendra, at the behest of Indian Prime Minister Nehru, made many improvements to public facilities, and became the first ever Nepalese king to visit Lumbini. Mahabodhi Society and the Newar community guided by Venerable Dhammaloka Mahathero, facilitated the development of Lumbini as a Buddhist pilgrimage site. This effort was continued by Aniruddha Mahathero, who studied at the Vidyalankara Pirivena and became fluent in many languages, by bringing alone Buddhists from other countries, especially from Tibet and Japan. Waldschmidt visited the site again in 1958, the same year that the Gautam Buddh Airport was opened in neighboring Siddharthanagar, formerly Bhairahawa. He described the place as barren and ordinary, without a trace of the beautiful grove of sal trees (Shorea robusta) described in the texts and was concerned about the way the antiquities were overlooked during the development work.
In 1967, U Thant, a Buddhist himself and the secretary general of the UN, visited the site. He was distressed by the desolate nature of the place and set up a UN committee to turn Lumbini into an international centre for peace. In 1968, UNESCO and UNDP got involved with restoration and development work and hired the Japanese architect, Kenzo Tange, famous for designing the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum to draw up plans. Lumbini was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1997.
Concerned with the impact of increased tourist and pilgrim visits and shortsighted restoration work on the antiquities, Nepal government and UNESCO jointly developed a three-year master plan to preserve and protect antiquities from future developments. This was supported by the Japanese Funds-in-Trust for UNESCO led by Professor Yukio Nishimura of Tokyo University. A team directed by Robin Coningham and Kosh Prasad Acharya was assigned to do the work.
It is well known that sites of religious importance were continuously restored and maintained by the devotees or rulers throughout history. Emperor Asoka had undertaken a massive project to restore all known Buddhist sites throughout India during his reign from 274 to 232 BCE. In modern archaeological excavations, Asoka’s constructions are considered as a landmark referred to as the Mauryan Horizon. In general, excavations would continue through post-Asokan construction layers, but would not go beyond the Mauryan Horizon as inscriptions uncovered provided definite information of the site’s history. However, in the case of Lumbini, a consensus was reached among all parties involved that excavation work may continue beyond this limit.
As expected, the archaeologists discovered several layers of construction beneath the Asokan brick foundation, the Mauryan Horizon. It became apparent that all older structures were built surrounding an empty space that was free of construction or debris. Beneath several layers of brick work, consisting of cardinally oriented curbs and platforms built around an irregular ‘Marker Stone’, they encountered the evidence of a wooden structure, and roof tiles. Based on sculptural depictions found at Bharhut, Sanchi, Bodh Gaya, Mathura, and Amravati, the archaeologist determined that what they were uncovering was the remnants of a wooden structure built around a living tree, referred to as bodhigara. Evidence for such structures were found in Sri Lanka as well, and Robert Knox had described them in his book, An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon. In the empty space surrounded by these structures was found evidence for the presence of a tree at some point in the past.
The layer containing the potholes of the wooden structure dated to the 6th century BCE when analysed using carbon-14 and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) techniques. This finding has significant implications on a long-standing scholarly debate: Even though the Theravada tradition stands firmly that the Parinirvana occurred in 543 BCE, the texts provide contradictory dates for it. Emperor Asoka’s consecration in the year 268 or 267 BCE is the reference point used by all documents and historians. Deepavamsa places Asoka consecration 118 years after Parinirvana whereas Atthasalini records it as 218 years. The Chinese version of Samantapasadika also places it or 118 years after it, but the Chinese “dotted record” tradition tabulates it to be 218 years. On the other hand, all Sanskrit documents place it 100 years after Parinirvana. Therefore, two chronologies -long and short – can be attested to this event based on texts. The significance of the scientific dating of the wooden structure to 6th century BCE is that it gives credence to the long chronology favoring the Theravada tradition that Prince Siduhath was born in the year 623 BCE.
The excavation by Coningham and Acharya allows for the reconstruction of the history of this most important Buddhist site. The strip of land south of the lower Himalayas spreading between Yamuna on the west and Brahmaputra River on the east is known as the Terai region, meaning the moist land. The dominant tree of the forest is the sal tree (Shorea robusta). This is not the cannon ball tree (Couroupita guianensis) that is ubiquitously found in Sri Lankan temple murals depicting the birth of Prince Siduhath. The excavation found evidence for agricultural activity around the site before the wooden structure was built. There may have been settlements or towns, and perhaps roads or trade routes connecting Kapilavastu and Devdaha. This may be the reason for Maya Devi and her entourage to take a longer Southern route to Devdaha from Kapilavastu instead of a shorter northern route. Perhaps, the marker stone was placed on the spot shortly after the event, and the wooden structure was built around the tree after the enlightenment, or the Parinirvana. By the time Emperor Asoka visited, the wooden structure may have disappeared, leaving only the marker stone. No wonder that Asoka broke down in tears, just as U Thant did two millennia later, upon seeing the site.
References: R. E. A. Coningham, Antiquity 87 (2013): 1104–1123; Charles Allen, The Search for the Buddha (2002); Etienne Lamotte, History of Indian Buddhism (1988); David Jackson, Eds. F.-K. Ehrhard and Petra Maurer (2013) Nepalica-Tibetica, vol. 1, pp. 295-314.
