Lumbini pillar inscription

Ancient historical records of the Buddhist monuments of the region, made by the ancient Chinese monk-pilgrim Faxian in the early 5th century CE and by another ancient Chinese monk-pilgrim Xuanzang in the 7th century CE, had been used in an effort to search for the place of birth of Gautama Buddha, said to be in Lumbini, and his ancient city of Kapilavastu. The Lumbini pillar itself, set up where the Buddha was born, was mentioned by Xuanzang, who said that it was surmounted by the sculpture of a horse and that it had been broken in half, but he never mentioned the presence of an inscription, which, according to Vincent A. Smith, may already have been hidden by the time he visited in the 7th century. The description by Xuanzang adds that the pillar was split in two and fallen on the ground at the time he saw it.{{cite book |last1=Mukherji |first1=P. C. |last2=Smith |first2=Vincent Arthur |title=A report on a tour of exploration of the antiquities in the Tarai, Nepal the region of Kapilavastu; |date=1901 |publisher=Calcutta, Office of the superintendent of government printing, India |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5iYXAAAAYAAJ/page/n12 6] |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5iYXAAAAYAAJ}}

File:Rummindei view of the ruins and the Lumbini pillar from the West (detail).jpg

The pillar was supported underground by a brick base, which according to Vincent A. Smith had to be of a comparatively more recent date. He suggested that the fallen pillar had been re-erected at the time of the Buddhist Pala dynasty, in the 11th or 12th century.

The existence of the stone pillar itself was already known before the discovery: it had already been reported to Vincent A. Smith by a local landowner named Duncan Ricketts, around twelve years before (circa 1884). Rubbings of the medieval inscriptions on top of the pillar had been sent by Ricketts, but they were thought of no great consequence.{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Vincent A. |title=The Birthplace of Gautama Buddha |journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |date=1897 |page=617 |jstor=25207888 }} Führer has also heard about the pillar in 1895, while he was investigating the nearby Nigali-Sagar pillar.

In December 1896, Alois Anton Führer was making a follow-up survey of the nearby Nigali-Sagar pillar, discovered and investigated by him the previous year, in March 1895.{{cite book |last1=Beckwith |first1=Christopher I. |title=Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia |date=2017 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-17632-1 |pages=234–235 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=53GYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA234 |language=en}}

File:Lumbini pillar ruins cross-section.jpg

According to some accounts, Führer found the Lumbini pillar on December 1, and then asked the help of local commander, General Khadga Shumsher Rana, to excavate it.{{cite book |last1=Falk |first1=Harry |title=The discovery of Lumbinī |date=January 1998 |page=13 |url=https://www.academia.edu/2097776 |language=en}}{{cite journal |last1=Barth |first1=A. |title=Decouvertes recentes du Dr. Führer au Nepale |journal=Le Journal des Savants|date=1897 |publisher=Académie des inscriptions et belles–lettres |page=72 |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k54706z/f73.image |language=EN}} According to other accounts General Khadga Samsher Rana knew the location of the pillar and led Führer to it. Reportedly, Führer was not present when the inscription was discovered, as he arrived only "a little later", but Ricketts was witness to it. Initially, only the top of the pillar was visible, with a medieval inscription on it. The Nepalese authorities dug around the pillar, to find the ancient Brahmi inscription, which therefore had remained underground, hidden from view.{{cite book |last1=Weise |first1=Kai |title=The Sacred Garden of Lumbini: Perceptions of Buddha's birthplace |date=2013 |publisher=UNESCO |isbn=978-92-3-001208-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=naohAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA64 |language=en}}

The Brahmi inscription on the pillar gives evidence that Ashoka, emperor of the Maurya Empire, visited the place in 3rd-century BCE and identified it as the birth-place of the Buddha. The inscription was translated by Paranavitana:Paranavitana, S. (Apr. - Jun., 1962). Rupandehi Pillar Inscription of Asoka, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 82 (2), 163-167{{refn|group=note|name="translations"|Several alternative translations have been published.{{Citation |last = Weise |first = Kai |title = The Sacred Garden of Lumbini – Perceptions of Buddha's Birthplace |date = 2013|pages= 47–48|publisher = UNESCO |location= Paris |archivedate = 2014-08-30 |url = http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002239/223986E.pdf |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20140830011700/http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002239/223986E.pdf |display-authors = etal}}Hultzsch, E. /1925). [https://archive.org/details/InscriptionsOfAsoka.NewEditionByE.Hultzsch Inscriptions of Asoka]. Oxford: Clarendon Press, pp. 164-165Tsukamoto, Keisho (2006). [https://web.archive.org/web/20210605060943/http://echo-lab.ddo.jp/Libraries/%E5%8D%B0%E5%BA%A6%E5%AD%A6%E4%BB%8F%E6%95%99%E5%AD%A6%E7%A0%94%E7%A9%B6/%E5%8D%B0%E5%BA%A6%E5%AD%B8%E4%BD%9B%E6%95%99%E5%AD%B8%E7%A0%94%E7%A9%B6%E7%AC%AC54%E5%B7%BB%E7%AC%AC3%E5%8F%B7/Vol.54%20,%20No.3(2006)200%E5%A1%9A%E6%9C%AC%20%E5%95%93%E7%A5%A5%E3%80%8C%E3%83%AB%E3%83%B3%E3%83%9F%E3%83%B3%E3%83%87%E3%83%BC%E3%82%A4%E3%83%BC%E3%81%AE%E3%82%A2%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A7%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AB%E6%B3%95%E5%8B%85%E5%86%8D%E8%80%83%20-%E3%83%9E%E3%83%A4%E5%A0%82%E5%87%BA%E5%9C%9F%E3%81%AE%E3%80%8C%E8%87%AA%E7%84%B6%E7%9F%B3%E3%80%8D%E3%81%AB%E9%96%A2%E9%80%A3%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6-%E3%80%8D.pdf Reconsidering the Rummindei Pillar Edict of Asoka: In Connection with 'a piece of natural rock' from Mayadevi Temple], Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies 54 (3), 1113-1120}}

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File:Ashoka_pillar_FULL.jpg

File:Monograph on Buddha Sakyamuni's birthplace.jpg own report on the discovery, entitled [https://archive.org/details/monographonbuddh00fuhr/page/n7 Monograph on Buddha Sakyamuni's birthplace], 1897]]

Following the discovery of the pillar, Führer relied on the accounts of ancient Chinese pilgrims to search for Kapilavastu, which he thought had to be in Tilaurakot. Unable to find anything significant, he started excavating some structures at Sagarwa, which he said were stupas of the Shakyas, and was in the process of faking pre-Mauryan inscriptions on bricks, when he was caught in the act by Vincent Arthur Smith.{{cite book |last1=Dhammika |first1=Shravasti |title=Middle Land, Middle Way: A Pilgrim's Guide to the Buddha's India |date=2008 |publisher=Buddhist Publication Society |isbn=978-955-24-0197-8 |page=41 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oZ-Qa_jRVMYC&pg=PA41 |language=en}}"Fuhrer's attempt to associate the names of eighteen Sakyas, including Mahanaman, with the structures, on the false claim of writings in pre-Asokan characters, was fortunately foiled in time by V.A. Smith, who paid a surprise visit when the excavation was in progress. The forgery was exposed to the public." in {{cite journal |last1=Srivastava |first1=K.M. |title=Kapilavastu and Its Precise Location |journal=East and West |date=1979 |volume=29 |issue=1/4 |pages=65–66}}.

Soon after, Alois Anton Führer was exposed as "a forger and dealer in fake antiquities", and had to resign from his position in 1898. Führer's early archaeological successes had apparently encouraged him to inflate his later discoveries to the point of creating forgeries.{{cite journal |last1=Huxley |first1=Andrew |title=Dr Führer's Wanderjahre: The Early Career of a Victorian Archaeologist |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society |date=2010 |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=489–503 |issn=1356-1863|jstor=40926240 |doi=10.1017/S1356186310000246 |s2cid=162507322 }} Vincent Arthur Smith further revealed in 1901 the blunt truth about Führer's Nepalese discoveries, saying of Führer's description of the archaeological remains at Nigali Sagar that "every word of it is false", and characterizing several of Führer's epigraphic discoveries in the area, including the inscriptions at the alleged Shakya stupas at Sagarwa, as "impudent forgeries".{{cite journal |last1=Huxley |first1=Andrew |title=Mr Houghton and Dr Führer: a scholarly vendetta and its consequences |journal=South East Asia Research |volume=19 |issue=1 |date=2011 |page=77 |doi=10.5367/sear.2011.0030 |jstor=23750866 |s2cid=147046097 }} It was finally understood in 1901 that Führer had copied almost word-for-word this description from a report by Alexander Cunningham about the stupas in Sanchi.{{cite book |last1=Falk |first1=Harry |title=The discovery of Lumbinī |date=January 1998 |page=11 |url=https://www.academia.edu/2097776 |language=en}} However Smith never challenged the authenticity of the Lumbini pillar inscription and the Nigali Sagar inscription,{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=vincent A. |title=The Early History Of India Ed. 3rd |date=1914 |page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.94846/page/n187 169] |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.94846}} and accepted the identifications as authentic.

Führer had written in 1897 a monograph on his discoveries in Nigali Sagar and Lumbini, Monograph on Buddha Sakyamuni's birth-place in the Nepalese tarai{{cite book |last1=Führer |first1=Alois Anton |title=Monograph on Buddha Sakyamuni's birth-place in the Nepalese tarai |date=1897 |publisher=Allahabad : Govt. Press, N.W.P. and Oudh |url=https://archive.org/details/monographonbuddh00fuhr/page/n46}} which was withdrawn from circulation.{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Edward Joseph |title=The Life of Buddha as Legend and History |date=2000 |publisher=Courier Corporation |isbn=978-0-486-41132-3 |page=18 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NE-fmHzumWkC&pg=PA18 |language=en}}

In 1912, the German Indologist Heinrich Lüders identified in the Lucknow Provincial Museum (of which Führer had been curator) several forged inscriptions in Brahmi on artifacts belonging to Führer's 1889–1891 excavations at Mathura and the Ramnagar site of Ahichchhatra, forgeries which he attributed to Führer himself.{{cite book |last1=Allen |first1=Charles |title=The Buddha and Dr. Führer: An Archaeological Scandal |date=2010 |publisher=Penguin Books India |isbn=978-0-14-341574-9 |page=242 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VAPq4yGXmIIC&pg=PA242 |language=en}}{{cite journal |last1=Lüders |first1=H. |title=On Some Brahmi Inscriptions in the Lucknow Provincial Museum |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |date=1912 |pages=153–179, and especially 176–179 | volume=44| doi=10.1017/S0035869X00042751 |jstor=25189994 |s2cid=163426828 }} Some of the forged inscriptions were direct copies of inscriptions on other objects, previously published in Epigraphia Indica.{{cite journal |last1=Lüders |first1=H. |title=On Some Brahmi Inscriptions in the Lucknow Provincial Museum |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |date=1912 |volume=44 |pages=153–179 |doi=10.1017/S0035869X00042751 |issn=0035-869X|jstor=25189994 |s2cid=163426828 }} In particular Lüders was able to show that supposed Jain inscriptions were fakes compiled from earlier real inscriptions found in Mathura.{{cite journal |last1=Huxley |first1=Andrew |title=Dr Führer's Wanderjahre: The Early Career of a Victorian Archaeologist |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society |date=2010 |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=496–498 |doi=10.1017/S1356186310000246 |issn=1356-1863|jstor=40926240 |s2cid=162507322 }} Of the Mathura inscriptions discovered by Führer, Lüders summarized in 1912 that "As all statements about epigraphical finds that admit of verification have proved to be false, it is very likely that no inscriptions at all have turned up". However, Lüders never questioned the genuineness of the Piprahwa inscription.

Harry Falk—a leading scholar of Ashoka's inscriptions—has stated that the authenticity of Ashoka's Lumbini inscription is "beyond dispute,"{{cite web | last=Falk | first=Harry | title=Aśokaʻs donations at Lumbinī | website=Academia.edu | date=2015-01-22 | url=https://www.academia.edu/10287850 | access-date=2025-03-22}} and that "features of truly Aśokan script, some of them extinct at the middle of the second century BC" could not realistically have been forged by Führer who was "extremely clumsy", "ill-educated in Prakrit phonology and morphology", and "ignorant to the same degree of Brāhmī palaeography," therefore "disqualifying Führer as the author of a perfect fake."{{cite journal | last=Falk | first=Harry | title=The Ashes of the Buddha | journal=Bulletin of the Asia Institute | publisher=Bulletin of the Asia Institute, a Non-Profit Corporation | volume=27 | year=2013 | issn=0890-4464 | jstor=44758602 | pages=43–75 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/44758602 | access-date=2025-03-22}}

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Although generally accepted as genuine, this inscription does raise a few issues in terms of authenticity:

• The Lumbini inscription is in the third person, written by someone reporting a past visit of Devanampriya Priyadarsi, and is not written in Devanampriya Priyadarsi's own name contrary to all other known Edicts of Ashoka.{{cite book |last1=Beckwith |first1=Christopher I. |title=Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia |date=2017 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-17632-1 |page=168 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=53GYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA168 |language=en}} So, by its own internal evidence, it may have been written at any time in history after the ruler's visit. In effect, ancient Brahmi was still understood until the beginning of 4th century CE before being rediscovered in the 19th century.{{cite book |last1=Beckwith |first1=Christopher I. |title=Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia |date=2017 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-17632-1 |page=242 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=53GYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA242 |language=en}}
• The qualifier used for the Buddha in the inscription is Sakyamuni ({{Script|Brah|𑀲𑀓𑁆𑀬𑀫𑀼𑀦𑀺}}), which is a partly Sanskritized form of the Prakrit Sakamuni ({{Script|Brah|𑀲𑀓𑀫𑀼𑀦𑀺}} "Sage of the Sakas), although the fully Sanskritized form would be Śakyamuni ({{Script|Brah|𑀰𑀓𑁆𑀬𑀫𑀼𑀦𑀺}}, pronounced "Shakyamuni").On Śakyamuni being a Sanskritization: Stephan Baums "We even have the spellings Śakimuni and Śakyamuna, though you may wish to consider the latter a Sanskritization." quoted in {{cite journal |last1=Bronkhorst |first1=Johannes |title=How the Brahmins Won: Appendix X Was there Buddhism in Gandhāra at the Time of Alexander? |journal=How the Brahmins Won |date=2016 |publisher=Brill |pages=483–489, page 6 of the appendix |doi=10.1163/9789004315518_016 |url=https://www.academia.edu/25308643 |language=en}} The problem is that the rest of the inscription is entirely in Prakrit, and Sanskrit inscriptions are not otherwise attested before the 1st century BCE-1st century CE. "Sakyamuni" only appears in the Lumbini inscription, the other known forms being "Sakiya" in the Piprahwa inscription, "Sakka" in the Pali literature, "Sakka" and "Śakka" in Prakrit literature, "Saka" (Bharhut) and "Śaka" in the epigraphic record.{{cite journal |last1=Fleet |first1=J. F. |title=The Inscription on the Piprawa Vase |journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |date=1906 |page=161 |jstor=25210223 }}
• The Buddha is never mentioned in the Major Pillar Edicts nor in the Major Rock Edicts, and only appears once in the Bairat Temple inscription.{{cite book |last1=Beckwith |first1=Christopher I. |title=Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia |date=2017 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-17632-1 |pages=245–246 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=53GYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA245 |language=en}}
• The inscription was discovered by Nepalese General Kadga Shameshar, the famous Anton Führer initially was not there and arrived shortly after the discovery. The engraving is in extremely good condition and seems fresh, arguably because the portion of the pillar which contains the inscription remained underground for so long. Still, when Rhys Davids made a copy of the inscription in 1900, he noted that it was "almost as if freshly cut".{{cite book |last1=Rhys Davids |first1=Thomas William |title=Encyclopaedia Of Religion And Ethics Vol.8 |date=1915 |page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56058/page/n218 196] |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.56058}}{{cite book |last1=Beckwith |first1=Christopher I. |title=Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia |date=2017 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-17632-1 |page=235 note 34 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=53GYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA235 |language=en}} Following re-examination fifty years later, academics commented: "The pillar bears an inscription of Asoka, very well preserved. The lines are straight and letters very tastefully written. It appears as if the inscription has been very recently incised."{{cite book |last1=Dutt|first1=Nalinaksha |last2=Bajpai |first2=Krishna D. |title=Development of Buddhism in Uttar Pradesh |date=1956 |publisher=Publication Bureau, Government of Uttar Pradesh |page=330 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.6090/page/n3/mode/1up|language=en}}

These issues were popularized in 2008 by British writer Charles Allen in The Buddha and Dr. Führer: an archaeological scandal, who concluded "there is no doubt at all that it was Asoka the Great who erected the Asokan rock and pillar edicts".{{Cite book|publisher = Haus |isbn = 9781905791934| last = Allen|first = Charles|title = The Buddha and Dr. Führer: an archaeological scandal|location = London |year = 2008 |page=267}}{{cite book |last1=Beckwith |first1=Christopher I. |title=Greek Buddha: Pyrrho's Encounter with Early Buddhism in Central Asia |date=2017 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-17632-1 |pages=246 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=53GYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA246 |language=en}}

Harry Falk—a leading scholar of Ashoka's inscriptions—has stated that the authenticity of Ashoka's Lumbini inscription is "beyond dispute," and that "features of truly Aśokan script, some of them extinct at the middle of the second century BC" could not realistically have been forged by Führer who was "extremely clumsy", "ill-educated in Prakrit phonology and morphology", and "ignorant to the same degree of Brāhmī palaeography," therefore "disqualifying Führer as the author of a perfect fake."

{{commons category|Ashoka pillar (Lumbini)}}

File:BRP Lumbini Ashoka pillar.jpg|The pillar of Ashoka.

File:Lumbini inscription (complete).jpg|The Ashoka inscription on the pillar today.

File:Paderia Pillar.png|Rubbing of the inscription.

File:Buddha Sakyamuni on the Rummindei pillar of Ashoka.jpg|The words Bu-dhe (𑀩𑀼𑀥𑁂, the Buddha) and Sa-kya-mu-nī ( 𑀲𑀓𑁆𑀬𑀫𑀼𑀦𑀻, "Sage of the Shakyas") in Brahmi script.

File:Lummini Gaame inscription.jpg|Luṃmini Gāme (𑀮𑀼𑀁𑀫𑀺𑀦𑀺𑀕𑀸𑀫𑁂, "City of Lumbini") inscription in the Rummindei Edict of Ashoka.

File:Lumbini pillar Medieval inscription.jpg|Lumbini pillar medieval inscription of king Ripumalla, 13-14th century CE.

File:Lumbini pillar capital.jpg|Drawing of the pillar capital originally discovered next to the Lumbini pillar.

File:Rummindei view of the ruins and the Lumbini pillar from the South.jpg|View of the ruins and the Lumbini pillar from the South

File:Devanampiya Piyadasi inscriptions.jpg|Various "Devanampiya Piyadasi" inscriptions on the Pillars of Ashoka.

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Category:3rd-century BC inscriptions

Category:3rd-century BC establishments in Nepal

Category:1896 archaeological discoveries

Category:Monuments and memorials in Nepal

Category:Archaeological sites in Nepal

Category:Nepalese inscriptions

Category:Edicts of Ashoka

Category:Archaeological discoveries in Nepal