Jakarta Globe – AFP, Ammu Kannampilly, January 5, 2014
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| Monks chant under the Bodhi tree, adjacent to the Maya Devi Temple, in Lumbini, some 200 km west of Kathmandu, on April 18, 2013. (AFP Photo/Kyle Knight) |
Kathmandu.
The two archaeologists had a hunch that the Buddha’s birthplace in southern
Nepal held secrets that could transform how the world understood the emergence
and spread of Buddhism.
Their
pursuit would eventually see them excavate the sacred site of Lumbini as monks
prayed nearby, leading to the stunning claim that the Buddha was born in the
sixth century BC, two centuries earlier than thought.
Veteran
Nepalese archaeologist Kosh Prasad Acharya had carried out excavations in
Lumbini before in the early 1990s, when Nepal was still ruled by a king and a
Maoist insurgency had yet to kick off.
The project
ended in 1996 but Acharya remained unsatisfied with the results.
“My belief
was that there was another cultural deposit below, which we had not uncovered,”
the 62-year-old told AFP.
He headed
back to his government job in the capital Kathmandu and waited to retire,
restless to return to Lumbini.
The
Buddha’s birthplace was lost and overgrown by jungle before its rediscovery in
1896, when the presence of a third century BC pillar bearing inscriptions
allowed historians to identify it as Lumbini.
Since then,
it has been designated a UNESCO world heritage site, visited by millions of
Buddhists every year, with numbers expected to rise exponentially in the
following decades.
Acharya had
just retired from his last job, as the director general of the department of
archaeology, when UNESCO asked him to co-direct an investigation of Lumbini’s
foundations.
The
cultural organization asked Acharya and his longtime collaborator, Robin
Coningham, Britain’s leading South Asian archaeologist, to head a team that
would examine the site so conservators could develop it for growing numbers of
visitors.
“In 2010,
our first year there, we were pretty much the handmaidens to the conservators,”
Coningham told AFP in a phone interview from his office at Britain’s Durham
University, which helped fund the UNESCO project.
“The Eureka
moment came in 2011, when we came across a brick temple located below the
existing Asokan temple, and below that a sort of void.
“It became
clear then that there was much more to this excavation.”
Over the
next two years, archaeologists, geophysicists and hired workmen from Nepal and
Britain worked on the site, digging in the presence of meditating monks and
nuns.
“It was a
very moving, very special experience to dig for traces while pilgrims prayed
and paid homage,” Acharya said.
They dug
for a few weeks each year and sent the samples to laboratories for analysis.
Radiocarbon
and optically stimulated luminescence techniques were used to date fragments of
charcoal and grains of sand found at the site.
The
archaeologists also found holes, apparently meant to secure posts, in the open
void below the brick temple.
“The intact
holes suggested that whoever had built the brick temple had taken care not to
damage the ancient structure below, suggesting the site was always considered
holy,” Coningham said.
Lab tests
confirmed the existence of roots within the void below the brick structure,
suggesting it may have been a shrine where a tree once grew, possibly the
hardwood sal tree under which many believe the Buddha was born.
The
discovery, revealed in November, sparked huge excitement, but some historians
have urged caution, saying the ancient tree shrine could have been built by
pre-Buddhist believers.
“The
worship of trees, often at simple altars, was a ubiquitous feature of ancient
Indian religions,” Julia Shaw, a lecturer in South Asian archaeology at
University College London told National Geographic’s online edition.
“It is also
possible that what is being described represents an older tree shrine quite
disconnected from the worship of the historical Buddha,” Shaw added.
According
to Coningham, however, if the Buddhists had appropriated the tree shrine from
non-Buddhists, the site would not have survived relatively unscathed.
“Also, the
inscriptions at Bodhgaya [where the Buddha achieved enlightenment] reveal a
thriving culture of tree worship, which suggests continuity,” he added.
Much of
what is known about the Buddha’s life has its origins in oral tradition. The
earliest decipherable written records in the region, the inscriptions of
India’s Buddhist emperor Asoka, are dated about 250 BC.
Prior to
this discovery, most scholars said that the Buddha – who renounced material
wealth to embrace and preach a life of non-attachment – lived during the fourth
century BC, founding a religion that now counts 500 million followers.
Buddhists
in Nepal and Sri Lanka, however, have always believed that the sage was born
around 623 BC, a date that now seems more accurate.
“It’s one
of the great puzzles, this discovery reveals the endurance of oral traditions,”
Coningham said.
“This is
one of those very rare times when tradition, belief and archaeology all come
together.”
Agence France-Presse
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