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Year
15, Volume X, Issue 1, Published On Friday, October 29, 2004 (Kartik
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Social: For British Museum Buddha born in India
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Social: For British Museum Buddha born in India
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By Saroj Shrestha
Dear Friends,
Whilst visiting the section on Asia at the British Museum in London, I was surprised to read the information displayed regarding Buddha's birthplace. See for yourself - I have attached a photograph of the information board. What do you think?
The birthplace of Buddha has long been a bone of contention between Nepal and India, but if such a highly regarded institution such as the British Museum is showing that Lumbini is in India (North East India), then what hope have we of letting the world know of where the Buddha's true birthplace lies? Do you think we should act on this and inform the museum?
Hope to see any action against this topic.
Regards,
Saroj Shrestha
Oxford,
Uk
(Sent by Ananda Shrestha (ananda@ananda.com.np) from Kathmandu, Nepal based on his friend Saroj's experience in London.)
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| Comments
by
Ujjwal
from
United States
on
Saturday, October 30, 2004
at
14:52
- IP Logged |
I did some google on this:
1. Went to British Musuem site
(http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass/)
2. Search with "Where was Buddha born?"
3. Got this result: (He was born in Northern India. It does mention "Lumbini" as well.)
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The historical Buddha ('enlightened one') was born as a prince named Siddhartha Gautama in the kingdom of the Shakyas in northern India. He is therefore also called Shakyamuni, sage of the Shakyas. While it is clear that the Buddha was an historical personage, the exact dates of his life are uncertain. Sri Lankan texts suggest that he lived between around 566 and 486 BC, while Tibetan sources indicate around 448 to 368 BC. These dates are still the subject of scholarly debate.
Whatever the dates of the Buddha himself, it is clear that by the third century BC his ideas had gained much currency in India. Buddhism was promoted under the imperial patronage of the Mauryan emperor Asoka (reigned about 265-238 BC), who sponsored monks to proselytise abroad in Ceylon, China and the North western region of Gandhara from where this sculpture comes.
Gandhara has always been an ancient transit zone, at the 'crossroads of Asia'; it was certainly well known to the Greeks by the fifth century BC. Though the conquest of Alexander the Great was short-lived (329–325 BC), subsequent Indo-Greek kings held sway for another three centuries until the early years of the first century AD. Thereafter the region fell to the Sakas, Parthians and the Kushans. This sculpture, like most of the Buddhist art from Gandhara, can be dated between the first to fifth centuries AD. As a result of the various cultures that either settled or moved along these trade routes, the sculptures have taken on a distinctive style, combining Graeco-Roman, Indian, Chinese and Central Asian influences.
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| Comments
by
Rishi
from
United States
on
Thursday, November 04, 2004
at
08:18
- IP Logged |
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Encyclopædia Britannica (http://www.encyclopediabritannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9049335 ) and Britannica Online (http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=232627&hook=580812) clearly mention Nepal as Buddha's birthplace.
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