Kapilvastu, formerly known by name of Taulihawa, is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

and administrative center of

Kapilvastu District Kapilvastu District ( ), often Kapilbastu, is one of the districts of Lumbini Province, Nepal. The district, with Kapilbastu municipality as its district headquarters, covers an area of and in 2001 had a population of 481,976, which increased t ...

Lumbini Province Lumbini Province () is a Provinces of Nepal, province in western Nepal. The country's Provinces of Nepal, third largest province in terms of area as well as List of Nepalese provinces by population, population, Lumbini is home to the World Herita ...

of southern

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. The municipality is located roughly to the south-west of

Lumbini Lumbinī (, "the lovely") is a Buddhist pilgrimage site in the Rupandehi District of Lumbini Province in Nepal. The Buddhist commentaries state that Maya Devi gave birth to Siddhartha Gautama in Lumbini around 624 BCE. Gautama is bel ...

, a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

and the birthplace of

Gautama Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...

. Kapilvastu Municipality was established in 1982 with the name of Taulihawa Nagarpanchayat merging Bargadawa, Maalpara, Pipari, Kapilvastu Adarsh Gaau and some portion of Tilaurakot, Gotihawa and Gobari Gaunpanchayat. On 7 November 2014, the remaining region of Gotihawa and

Tilaurakot Tilaurakot is a neighborhood in Kapilvastu Municipality in Kapilvastu District, in the Lumbini Province of southern Nepal. Previously it was a Village development committee. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 5684 peo ...

VDC were included, making a total of 19 wards within this municipality. On March 10, 2017, the

Government of Nepal The Government of Nepal () is the central executive authority of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. The government is led by the Prime Minister of Nepal, prime minister (K. P. Sharma Oli, K.P. Oli since 15 July 2024) who selects all the o ...

restructured the local-level bodies into 753 new local level structures. The previous Taulihawa Municipality with

Dharampaniya Dharampaniya is a village development committee in Kapilvastu District in the Lumbini Zone of southern Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census The 1991 Nepal census was a widespread national census conducted by the Nepal Central Bureau of ...

Dohani Dohani is a village development committee in Kapilvastu District in the Lumbini Zone of southern Nepal. When the 1991 Nepal census The 1991 Nepal census was a widespread national census conducted by the Nepal Central Bureau of Statistics. Wo ...

Jahadi Jahadi is a village development committee situated at the southwest corner of Jagdishpur Reservoir, within Kapilvastu District in the Lumbini Zone of southern Nepal. According to the 1991 Nepal census The 1991 Nepal census was a widespread na ...

Nigalihawa Nigalihawa is a village development committee in Kapilvastu District in the Lumbini Zone of southern Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census, it had a population of 7564 people living in 1231 individual households. History Nigalihawa was kn ...

and Sauraha VDCs were merged to form Kapilvastu Municipality. Now the total area of the municipality is and the total population is 76,394. The municipality is now divided into 12 wards. The municipality lies at an altitude of above sea level

History

located in Kapilavastu municipality (Taulihawa) may have been the ancient city of Kapilavastu. On the other hand, nearby

Piprahwa Piprahwa is a village near Siddharthnagar city in Siddharthnagar district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Kalanamak rice, a scented and spicy variety, is grown in this area. It lies in the heart of the historical Buddha's homeland and ...

in India has also been proposed as the location for the historical site of Kapilavastu. The 19th-century search for the historical site of Kapilavastu followed the accounts left by

Faxian Faxian (337–), formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized as Fa-hien and Fa-hsien, was a Han Chinese, Chinese Chinese Buddhism, Buddhist bhikkhu, monk and translator who traveled on foot from Eastern Jin dynasty, Jin China to medieval India t ...

and later by

Xuanzang Xuanzang (; ; 6 April 6025 February 664), born Chen Hui or Chen Yi (), also known by his Sanskrit Dharma name Mokṣadeva, was a 7th-century Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making ...

, who were Chinese

Buddhist monks A ''bhikkhu'' (, ) is an ordained male in Buddhist monasticism. Male, and female monastics (''bhikkhunī''), are members of the Sangha (Buddhist community). The lives of all Buddhist monastics are governed by a set of rules called the prātimo ...

who made early pilgrimages to the site. Kapilavastu was an ancient city and the capital city of the

Shakya Shakya (Pali, Pāḷi: ; Sanskrit: ) was an ancient Indo-Aryan clan of the northeastern region of South Asia, whose existence is attested during the Iron Age in India, Iron Age. The Shakyas were organised into a Gaṇasaṅgha, (an Aristocrac ...

kingdom. King

Śuddhodana Śuddhodana (; Pali: ''Suddhodana''), meaning "he who grows pure rice," was the father of Siddhartha Gautama, better known as the Buddha. He was a leader of the Shakya, who lived in an Oligarchy, oligarchic republic, with their capital at Kapil ...

and Queen Māyā are believed to have lived at Kapilavastu, as did their son Prince Siddartha Gautama until he left the palace at the age of 29.

Historical sites

There are many sites of historical interest in or very close to Kapilavastu, including: * Amaulikot * Arourakot Darbar * Bardahawa * Bargadawa Stupa * Bikulikot * Derwa Stupa *

kot * Gotihawa, birthplace of

Kakusandha Buddha Kakusandha (Pāli), or Krakucchaṃda in Sanskrit, is one of the ancient Buddhas whose biography is chronicled in chapter 22 of the '' Buddhavaṃsa'', one of the books of the Pali Canon. According to Theravāda Buddhist tradition, Kakusandha is ...

, marked by an

Ashoka pillar The pillars of Ashoka are a series of Monolith, monolithic columns dispersed throughout the Indian subcontinent, erected—or at least inscribed with Edicts of Ashoka, edicts—by the 3rd Mauryan Emperor Ashoka the Great, who reigned from to ...

Jagdishpur Reservoir The Jagdishpur Reservoir is a reservoir in Jahadi Village development committee (Nepal), Village Development Committee, Kapilvastu District, Nepal which was named after Er. Jagadish Jha who designed and supervised the construction of Banaganga dam ...

* Kanthak Stupa * Kapilvastu Museum * Kopawa Stupa * Nigrodharama, the ruins of a Buddhist monastery where Gautama Buddha is believed to have stayed when visiting Kapilavastu * Lohasariya Stupa *

, the birthplace of

Nigali Sagar Nigali Sagar (also called Nigliva, Nigali Sagar pillar, Nighihawa pillar, Nigliva pillar, or Araurakot pillar) is an archaeological site in Nepal containing the remains of a pillar of Ashoka. The site is located in Nigalihawa, about 20 kilometer ...

, an archeological site in

, birthplace of Koṇāgamana Buddha, marked by an

* Paltimai Temple *

Pipara Stupa Pipara or Pipa (3rd century AD) was the daughter of , king of the Marcomanni in present-day Bohemia. She is notable for having a love affair with the emperor Gallienus, having been given to him by Attalus as a tool of appeasement. Attalus' invasio ...

* Pipari *

, a village and archaeological site in Siddharthnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, India that may be one of the burial sites of a portion of the ashes of Gautama Buddha * Premnagar Stupa *

Ramagrama stupa Ramagrama stupa (, also Ramgram, Rāmgrām, Rāmagrāma) is a stupa located in Ramgram Municipality, in the Parasi District of Nepal. This Buddhist pilgrimage site containing relics of Gautama Buddha was constructed between the Mauryan and G ...

, believed to be the only intact and original stupa containing relics of Buddha * Rampur Siddhipur Stupa * Sagarahawa Reservoir * Sarkup Pokhari * Semara Shiv Mandir * Sihokhor Stupa * Siseniya Stupa * Tauleshwor Nath Mandir (''Shree Tauleshwor Nath Mandir'') is a devotional temple for Hindus. Many Hindus come here to worship

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

during the

Maha Shivaratri Maha Shivaratri is a Hindu festival celebrated annually to worship the deity Shiva, between February and March. According to the Hindu calendar, the festival is observed on the fourteenth day of the first half (night start with darkness - ...

festival. *

* Twin Stupa

Notes

External links

Lumbini On Trial: The Untold Story
by Terry Phelps. See Section 'The Kapilavastu of the Chinese Pilgrims' and following passage also. {{Buddhism topics Buddhist pilgrimage sites in Nepal Gautama Buddha Populated places in Kapilvastu District Transit and customs posts along the India–Nepal border Municipalities in Lumbini Province Nepal municipalities established in 1982 Archaeological sites in Nepal

History

Historical sites

See also

Notes

External links