New excavations within the Maya Devi Temple of Buddha’s birthplace in Lumbini, Nepal, have revealed evidence of a series of shrines extending the history of the site to a much earlier date than previously known. Until now, the earliest Buddhist temples have been attributed to Emperor Ashoka,who in the 3rd century BC spread Buddhism across the region, as evidenced by his Pillar and brick built temple in Lumbini, a UNESCO World Heritage property since 1997. “For the first time in South Asia, excavations have revealed a pre-Ashokan temple of brick, which itself was built over an earlier one of timber”, says Professor Robin Coningham of Durham University in UK, who co-directed a team of Nepali and international experts together with Kosh Prasad Acharya, at a press conference in Kathmandu today. The team worked with the framework of a UNESCO project funded by the Government of Japan through the Japanese Funds in Trust for the Preservation of the World Cultural Heritage to UNESCO. The first phase of the project was completed this month in Lumbini in Southern Nepal.Coningham also said that even older remains of a village dating back to as early as 1300 BC were found a few hundred metres south of Lord Buddha’s birthplace, pushing the date of the settlement of the region back by a thousand years.
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Publisher:
UNESCO
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(2013
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Type / Script:
Press Release
in English
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Keywords:
EXCAVATION, BUSSHIST, SHRINE, EVIDENCE, SETTLEMENT, SPRITUAL IMPORTANCE, SOUTH ASIA, PRE-ASHOKAN, PILLAR, PROPERTY, BUDDHA'S BIRTHPLACE, LUMBINI, BUDDHISM, WORLD HERITAGE PROPERTY, RELIGIOUS GROUPS
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Thematic Group:
UNESCO
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Educational, Scientific and Cultural
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Thesaurus:
15.02.00
- Protection Of Intellectual And Cultural Property
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Reference Link:
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