Sacred Site

Piprahwa

Where Shakya relics were discovered — bones the inscriptions name as belonging to the Buddha's own clan.

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Siddhartha Gautama

The Shakya prince of Kapilavastu who left his palace, sat beneath the Bodhi tree, and set in motion the wheel of the dharma. The historical Buddha whose words seeded a tradition that now belongs to a fifth of humanity.

Ancient stone relief carving showing a royal figure, identified as Emperor Ashoka, riding in a horse-drawn chariot with attendants

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Ashoka the Just

Third Maurya emperor, c. 268-232 BCE. Conquered Kalinga, was sickened by what he saw, and converted to the dharma. Inscribed thirty-three edicts on rocks and pillars across the subcontinent, sent missions as far as Greece and Sri Lanka, and is the reason — more than any other single figure after the Buddha — that the dhamma survived its first three centuries.

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Piprahwa

The Shakya Relics.

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Bodh Gaya7 Boudhanath6 Devadaha3 Kapilavastu6 Kushinagar5 Lumbini12 Mustang3 Nalanda4