Ancient Shrine Site Shows Evidence of When Buddha was Born
By: Los Angeles Times, adapted by Newsela staff
Buddhism is one of the world's biggest religions. Hundreds of millions of people
follow the teachings of the Buddha. But one major mystery surrounds Buddhism:
exactly when was the Buddha born?
A team of archaeologists led by Robin Coningham set out to solve the mystery.
An archaeologist's job is to piece together the puzzles of the past. They dig in the
ground looking for very old objects. It isn't known exactly what day or year the
Buddha was born. Historians had thought that he could have been born anytime
between 623 B.C. and 340 B.C.
The problem is that nothing was written down about him during his lifetime.
Writings on monuments that were built in his memory have been found. An
Indian emperor, Ashoka, built several in the 3rd centuryB.C. Those provide some
clues. But, there isn't much evidence from before that. Original Temple Found
The archaeologists dug inside a famous religious site called the Maya Devi
Temple at Lumbini.
Buddha is believed to have been born at the site of that temple. They found
some clues: ancient bricks, tile roofing and wood charcoal. Coningham said they
found a temple built of wood. It had not been discovered before. Several brick
temples had been later built on top of it. They hid the original temple. The original
temple was built with an open space in the center. In that space was a tree, the
team thinks.
The center of the temple had always been open to the sky. "It had never been
covered by a roof,” Coningham said. Inside, the team found pieces of tree roots
that had been preserved. Buddhists say that the Buddha was born in a garden,
beneath a tree. His mother was Queen Maya Devi. She grabbed onto a tree
branch to hold herself up while giving birth. Immediately after his delivery,
Buddha is said to have stood and walked. That's why a tree would have such an
important place in the center of the temple.
The "Enlightened One"
Coningham said what they found is very rare. It's not often that what you find at a
dig matches up with what people have believed for hundreds of years. The
Lumbini temple is an important temple in the life of Buddha, or “enlightened one.”
The Buddha's original name was Siddhartha Gautama. He got the name of
Buddha when he achieved enlightenment. When he reached a level of great
knowledge and wisdom, he became enlightened.
The Buddhist religion started out very small. The first Lumbini temple was
probably built by rich people who followed Buddhism. Temples built later also
had large open areas, scientists said. At some point, the temple was forgotten.
The jungle grew around it. But, it was rediscovered in 1869. And it was found to
have a large column made of stone. On it was written the word Lumbini. And it
said that emperor Ashoka had visited there.
"Within A Living Temple"
Scientists said the early temple was covered by newer buildings. That's why it
wasn't possible to see what was buried until now. The team used science to test
how old the building is. They looked at bits of charcoal from the early wooden
temple and grains of sand. By finding out how long certain things take to decay
and fall apart, the scientists can figure out how old something is.
The materials they found in the dig come from the 6th century B.C. That
suggests the Buddha was born more than 2,600 years ago. Hundreds of
thousands of people visit Lumbini each year. And it remained open as the dig
went on. “All of this work occurred within a living temple,” Coningham said.