From Indian Side - The Kapilavastu controversy: Part I
ChandraShekhara
About two centuries after the death or Mahaparinirvana of Goutama Buddha in 5th century BCE, Emperor Asoka of Medieval India, went on a pilgrimage to visit all the places connected with the life of Goutama Buddha. One of the places that he visited during his pilgrimage was the village of ‘Lumbini’ located in the ‘Terai’ region of Nepal and which was believed to be the birth place of Buddha. To mark his visit there, Emperor Asoka put up a sandstone pillar with an inscription. Famous Indian historian Sir Jadunath Sarkar has translated this inscription as follows:
“Twenty years after his coronation, King Priyadasi, the beloved of
god, visited Lumbini in person and offered worship there because the
Buddha, the sage of the Sakyas, was born there. He built a stonewall
around the place and erected the stone pillar to commemorate his visit.
Because Lord Buddha was born there, he made the village of Lumbini free
from taxes and subject to pay only one-eighth of the produce as land
revenue instead of the usual rate.”
This evidence marks the birthplace of Goutama Buddha without doubt of
any sorts and conclusively in the village ‘Lumbini’. A famous Buddhist
text ‘Buddha Charita’ written by Asvaghosh in 1st century CE tells us
that Goutama Buddha was born as a prince to prosperous Sakya tribe King
Suddhodhana of the kingdom of Kapilavastu and was named as Siddhartha
Gautama. It was in the city of Kapilvastuthat Prince Siddhartha Gautam
spent his early years after his birth in Lumbini. At the age of 29,
Prince Siddhartha left his hometown Kapilvastu in search of truth and
attained enlightenment asBuddha. He never returned again to live in
Kapilvastu. After the death of King Suddhodhana, a gradual decline took
place in the kingdom with city of Kapilvastu being left utterly desolate
and forsaken for a long time. It lapsed into oblivion and was ruined
beyond recognition. For historians, Kapilavastu was a lost city. For the
Buddhist world, lack of knowledge about exact location of Kapilvastu,
was always considered as a grave loss. Only one thing was known for
sure. Kapilavastu was somewhere in the vicinity of Lumbini, since
Goutama Buddha’s mother ‘Mahamaya’ was travelling in state from
Kapilavastu to Devadaha, her parent’s home, to have her first child. On
her way, the queen gave birth to a divine son in her tent in the Lumbini
grove. We can therefore be sure that since the location of Lumbini is
known, ruins of Kapilavastu have to be in the vicinity.
In 1898, a third-generation British planter, William Claxton Peppé
excavated an intriguing brick Stupa located on his Birdpore estate
between the foothills of the Himalayas and the Gangetic Plains. This
Stupa was situated at Piprahwa, close to the Nepal-India frontier. Mr
Peppe gives a very graphic description of his discovery in an article. I
feel that reading his original description may be a very interesting
and worthwhile experience. I quote from his writing here:
“Since the discovery of the pillar at the Lumbini Garden
commemorating the birth-place of Buddha Gautama,” writes Mr. Peppe,
“considerable curiosity has been aroused regarding the different mounds,
or ‘ kots ‘ as they are locally called, to be found dotted over the
country, ranging from Kapijavastu to the northwest, the Lumbini Garden
to the north-east, and the British frontier to the south.
One such mound, more prominent than the rest owing to its size and
general marked appearance, is situated in the Birdpore estate, Basti
district of the North- West Provinces of India, at the 19.75 mile on the
Nepal Uska road, and about one half mile south of Pillar No. 44 on the
Nepal and British frontier. Last year I excavated a passage through the
cone of this mound, ten feet broad and eight feet deep, and found it was
built up of bricks 16 inches by 10-1/2 inches by 3, 15 inches by 10
inches by 3, laid in concentric circles, in clay, layer over layer, and
thus establishing that this mound was a Buddhist stupa. In October Mr.
Vincent Smith inspected it, and pronounced it to be a very ancient
stupa, and told me that if anything was to be found it would be found in
the centre and at the ground line. Subsequent events have proved how
correct was his surmise. “In the beginning of January the excavation was
continued, and a well 10 feet square was dug down the centre of the
stupa. At ten feet from the crown a small broken soap-stone urn, similar
to those found lower down, was found full of clay, and embedded in this
clay were some beads, crystals, gold ornaments, cut stones, etc. From
10 feet a circular pipe, one foot in diamater, filled with clay and
encased in brick work, descended to two feet, it then narrowed to four
inches in diameter. The bricks surrounding this pipe were sometimes
roughly cut and sometimes moulded into the required shapes. After
digging through eighteen feet of solid brick work set in clay, a huge
slab of stone was unearthed lying due magnetic north and south, and
31.50 inches to the east of the centre of the clay pipe mentioned above.
On further excavation this slab was found to be the cover of a huge
sandstone chest measuring 4 feet 4 inches by 2 feet 8-1/4 inches by 2
feet 2-1/4 inches. The lid was cracked in four pieces, evidently by the
pressure of the brickwork above it, but yet the chest was perfectly
closed. Fortunately the deep groove in the lid fitting so perfectly on
the flange of the chest prevented the lid from falling in when it was
first broken and also when we were removing it.
On removing the lid the following articles were found : One
soap-stone urn: 4 inches high and 434 inches diameter. A similar
soap-stone urn, 6 inches high and 4 inches diameter. One soap-stone
‘lota’ shaped vessel, 5 -1/2 inches high and 5-1/2 inches diameter, with
a well-fitting lid, which was lying apart from the ‘lota.’ One small
soap-stone round box, 3- 3/4 inches in diameter and 1-1/2 inches high.
One crystal bowl, 3 -1/4 inches in diameter and 3-1/2 inches high, with a
hollow fish, full of gold leaf ornaments for a handle. The lower
portion of the bowl was lying at the south end of the chest or casket,
and the cover was lying in the centre of the casket with its handle
downwards, and it contained some gold and stone ornaments.
The urns are beautifully turned, and the chisel marks seem quite
fresh, as if it had been made a few days ago. The crystal bowl is most
highly polished, and has all the appearance of a glass bowl of the
present day. ” It so happened that we delayed opening this casket three
days after we had unearthed it, and our curiosity was raised to its
utmost. Our surprise can be imagined when, on removing the lid, we found
an empty chest save for these few miniature vases, standing up as they
had been placed probably two thousand years ago. The stone casket is of a
very superior hard sandstone, and was cut out of one solid piece of
rock. It is in a perfect state of preservation, with its sides very
smoothly cut; it fact, it is all but polished. I do not think the stone
came from the hills north of this district. The weight of the lid is 408
lbs., and I calculate the weight of the whole chest to be 1537 lbs. The
brickwork continued for two feet below the bottom of the chest. The
round clay pipe at the level of the bottom of the chest took the form of
a rectangle, 17 inches by 5 for one layer, and the edge of this
rectangle was 21.50 inches from the side of the chest. After this it
resumed the circular shape of 4 inches diameter, and ended with the
brickwork at two feet below the bottom of the chest. I was most careful
in searching this pipe all the way down, but nothing whatever was found
in it. The level of the ground inside the stupa is the same as the level
of the ground at the outward circumference of the stupa. “The relic
urns contained pieces of bone, which are quite recognisable, and might
have been picked up a few days ago. The urns contained also ornaments in
gold, gold beads; impression of a woman on gold leaf two inches long,
upper portion naked, lower portion clothed ; another figure in gold leaf
naked ; a large circular piece of rather thicker gold leaf, scrolled on
the outside, 2 inches diameter, and may represent the top of a
miniature umbrella ; the impression of an elephant on gold leaf, several
pieces impressed with a lion, with trident over his back and the
Buddhist cross in front ; several pieces with the impression of the
Buddhist cross; one piece of solid gold 3/4 inches by 1/2 by 1/3 ;
quantities of stars or flowers, both in silver and gold, with six and
eight petals. The silver is tarnished, but the gold is beautifully
bright, and was so when the chest was opened. Pearls of sizes, many
welded together in sets of two, three, and four. Also quantities of
flowers or stars, leaves serrated and veined, Buddhist tridents,
pyramids, pierced and drilled beads of sizes and other shapes cut in
white and red cornelian, amethyst, topaz, garnets, coral, inlaid stones,
and shells. There is one bird cut in red cornelian and one bird in
metal. “I have compared these ornaments with those illustrated in
Archaeological Survey of India, New Imperial Series, Vol. XV., South
Indian Buddhist Antiquities, and I find almost every form in my
collection, besides a great variety of others. The only inscription of
any kind is scratched on the cover of one of the smaller urns. The
letters are in the Pali character and about 7- 16th of an inch long.”
I find this discovery even today, absolutely thrilling and fabulous
and must have been similarly so thought during those times also.
The inscription on the urn said
Sukiti bhatinam sa-puta-dalanam iyam salila-nidhane Budhasa
bhagavate sakiydnam.
Various interpretations and meaning of this text have been given by
historians. However, the important fact is that the text confirms the
enshrinement of the relics of the Buddha by the Sakyas. Or in other
words it confirms the statement of the Buddhist text
Mahdpartnibbdnasuttdnta that the Sakyas of Kapilavastu were one amongst
the eight claimants to a portion of the relics of the Buddha after he
was cremated at Kushinagar, and that they ceremoniously constructed a
stupa over the relics.
Since the texts mentioned that the Sakya’s had built this Stupa on
the outskirts of Kapilvastu, it was believed by many that Goutam
Buddha’s home town Kapilavastu has been finally found.
However not every one was convinced. There was a doubting Thomos, and
he came in the form of a German archaeologist called Dr Anton Führer, a
former Catholic priest digging 15 miles away. He had earlier claimed to
have discovered the Buddha’s birthplace at Lumbini, just over the
border in Nepal, as well as the city where the young Buddha lived as
Prince Siddhartha. He immediately casted his doubts doubt on the
authenticity of the vase and its ashes.
This was the beginning of the Kapilavastu controversy, which has not been resolved even to date.
(To be continued)
Also see Related Articles
From Indian Side - The Kapilavastu controversy: Part I
From Indian Side - The Kapilavastu controversy: Part II
From Indian Side - The Kapilavastu controversy: Part III
From Indian Side - The Kapilavastu controversy: Part IV
About the writer
I
am a retired Electronics Engineer. I was a businessman involved in
design and manufacture of various types of Electrical and Electronic
equipments including Electronic gauging systems and electro- magnetic
actuators. I started writing as a hobby, after my retirement. I write
regularly in my English and Marathi Blogs. Links to my other blogs
appear on the right side column of this blog. Having worked throughout
my career with my own hands, , I do often get an urge to do something
creative. For this, I have taken up Paper model making and wooden fret
work. I am deeply interested in Astronomy and satisfy my curiosity with
my Meade ETX 90C telescope. However the conditions in the city of
Pune, India, where I normally stay, can not be said to be very
conducive to my hobby. Recently I have taken liking to study
International strategic moves by nations. You can find number of my
blogposts in this area.
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