Kapilavastu

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Kapilvastu, formerly Taulihawa (or, Kapilbastu Kapilvastu District or Tilaurakot), aprox. 30,000 inhabitants, is a Nepali municipaliy in Lumbini Zone (Terai), appox. 250kms west of Kathmandu near the Indian border. Tilaurakot was excavated by Robin Coningham and Armin Schmidt. The village of Lumbini, 25kms east of Kaplivastu is the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama in the sixth century B.C. and is a site of pilgrimage for Buddhists from all over the world. The Buddha is thought to have grown up and lived there to the age of 29. Siddhartha spent his early life in Kapilavastu as a prince, mostly oblivious of worldly miseries. He was married to Yashodhara and had a son named Rahula. Upon confronting worldly miseries such as disease, aging and death, he left Kapilavastu in search of enlightenment and in quest of answers to his questions about such miseries, pain and sufferings.

Kapilavastu is considered a holy pilgrimage for Buddhists. The location of Kapilavastu has been a source of disagreement amongst scholars. The general view now is that it is a large area part of which is in Nepal and part in India. The search for Buddha's birthplace following the accounts left by Hiuen Tsang and Fa Hein involved various searches in the late 19th century. An interesting account of the different opinions and how the ruins of Kapilavastu was discovered is found in Charles Allen's The Buddha and the Sahibs.

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has a board outside an archaeological site in India (south of Lumbini) which claims the site as the historic Kapilavastu: Piprahwa is 110 km from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh.But such claims have been dismissed by noted historians and archaelogist from Germany and U.K.