Lumbini
Lumbini is the place where the Buddha, known as the Tathagata was born. It is the place which should be visited and seen by a person of devotion and which should cause awareness and apprehension of the nature of impermanence. The birthplace of the Gautama Buddha, Lumbini, is the Mecca of every Buddhist, being one of the four holy places of Buddhism. It is said in the Parinibbana Sutta that Buddha himself identified four places of future pilgrimage: the sites of his birth, enlightenment, first discourse, and death. All of these events happened outside in nature under trees.
Lumbini and its surrounding areas have been sites of pilgrimage for centuries. The archaeological remains in the Greater Lumbini Area, some of which were excavated in the last century, not only reveal the exact location where Lord Buddha was born but also provide testimony of pilgrimages dating back to the 3rd century BC.
Lumbini Grove
The Rummendei pillar
The Mayadevi Temple
This is the sacred site of Lord Buddha's birth, which is today a small village in Nepal, 27 Km from Sunauli on the Indo-Nepal border. The sacred site of the Buddha's birth is at the southern end of Lumbini grove. Excavations have revealed a series of rooms and a stone slab, which is now believed to mark the exact location at which the Buddha, (or Siddhartha as he would have been known then) was born.
Three hundred years after the Mahaparinirvana, Emperor Ashoka visited Lumbini and erected a pillar there. This pillar, though broken, still remains at the site. It is known as the Rummendei pillar after the earlier name of the place (modern name Rupandehi) in Nepal.
The Maya Devi temple and the tank nearby are part of the sacred complex. There are two beautiful panels in the temple, the older one in stone and the other in marble. Both panels show Maya Devi holding the Sal tree and the young prince emerging out of her right side. Just outside the temple is a tank whose water glistens in the faint sun, the gentle breeze creating endless ripples. Here Queen Maha Maya had her bath before the delivery and it was also here that Prince Siddhartha had his first purification bath.