Lumbini - travelling 25km away from the border, we reached the
birth place of the Buddha.
Here's a liittle story about the Buddha. One night, Queen Maya had
a dream than a six tasked white elephant decended from the sky into
her womb. Months later, she became pregant with a child. During the
Buddha's time, when a woman going to give birth to a child, she had
to go back to her mother's house to do that. So Queen Maya
travelled back to her homeland Koliyan Kingdom. On her way to
Lumbini, she gave birth to a boy Prince Siddhatta on a full moon
night. This day is widely celebrated by Buddhist as Vesak or Wesak
Day. It commenerates the Birth, Englightenment and Death of the
Buddha.
The little pillar on the left is the Asoka Pillar and the Temple on
the right is the MayaDevi Temple.
One interesting story that happened here was a war between the
Sakayan and the Koliyan over water because of a drought. The Buddha
appeared before the great armies and asked the reasons for the
fight. When he was told it was over water, he asked them the value
of water and blood. when they told him that blood is more valuable
then water, he asked them if it was worth it to shed blood because
of water thus averting a war
