[Since past 100 years nearly or so, the Buddha has been brought into controversy by peoples, specially some historians and other reseachers in the field of history and archaeology. "On August 24, 1928 a local newspaper ‘Daily Asha’ broke out a news that an Ashokan inscription was discovered in Kapileswara of Orissa. Scholars began discussing its originality. Some supported the view that the new find was real whereas a bunch of others stood against the find. It was reported by a local journalist in Oriya Language. And then another article appeared in ‘Prabashi’ in support of the inscription in July 1928. Casting doubt over the new find, another article came out in the same magazine in October 1928. In 1929 the view was discredited again. But the controversy is continuing on and on ever since". I had sent an email to National Archives of India inquiring if it had any record of the Buddha being born in Kapileswar Orissa, India and on Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 12:57:35 AM, it sent me a letter which is posted below.- Editor]
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| The Lumbini Bodhi Tree in Lumbini Garden, Nepal |
From: National Archives of India
To: Rana 1616
Sent: Tue, February 2, 2010 12:57:35 AM
Subject: Re: BUDDHA'S BIRTH PLACE/CONTROVERSY AGAIN/ THE POST-AMERICAN WORLD
F.No. 11-2/2010-R-I,
Government of India,
National Archives of India,
Janpath, New Delhi-110 001,
From: archives@nic.in
To : “Rana 1616”<rana1616@yahoo.com>
F.No. 11-2/2010 R-I
Subject: Buddha’s birth place.
Sir,
This has reference to your e-mail dated 18 January 2010 on the aforementioned subject. I am to inform you that the desired information is not available in the record holdings of National Archives of India. However, you may contact the following addresses for eliciting the desired information.
Yours faithfully,
for Director General of India ,
Government of India
1.Archaeological Survey of India
Janpath, New Delhi-110011.
Tel: 011-23013574/23015954
Fax: 011-23019487
E-mail- dga.asi@gmail.com
2. Anthropological Survey of India,
27,Jawahar Lal Nehru Road,
Kolkata-16 (West Bengal)
Tel: 033-22861781/22861733
E-mail: < director@ansi.gov.in >
***********************************
COMMENTS ON THE POST
On Sat, Feb 6, 2010 at 12:13 AM, Yam Jhedi wrote:
Hello Sir,
Namaste
I do heartily appreciate your effort to resolve the Buddha birthplace controversy raised by some Indian scholars.
Yam Jhedi,
On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 7:47 AM, Terence Phelps wrote:
Dear Sir
Many thanks for your email. I attach an article drawn from the Orissa Historical Review Journal which very effectively puts paid to this Orissa nonsense. What really got my goat, however, was that Tripathy recently utilised my own seventeen-year researches into this problem to support his claims - without asking my permission to do so - and published the result in a booklet (which he then had the gall to send me a copy of). I was furious, and told him so too, since it looked as though I endorsed his conclusions (which I most certainly do not). Ranajit Pal did the same, and also got short shrift for doing so.
Not that I support the Nepalese claim to Lumbini either, I shall add. If you want to know where Lumbini and Kapilavastu were, then you simply MUST follow the Chinese pilgrims Faxian and Xuanzang, since they both WENT to these places (and their accounts agree perfectly on its whereabouts) and you really can’t argue with that. They actually WENT there!
Anyway, if you want to read my own conclusions on Lumbini, you’ll find them at http://www.lumkap.org.uk (though since you’ve sent me this email, I shall assume that you are perfectly well aware of what I have written anyway).
Terence A. Phelps
On Tue, Feb 2, 2010 at 10:21 PM, Dirgha Raj Prasai wrote:
Dear friend!
Good Morning !
What the Indians say is not true. The Indians always want to destroy the identities and historical facts of Nepal Nepal
Lumbini is one of the world’s most highly revered Buddhist pilgrimages that lies in Rupandehi district of Nepal near the Indian border. It is the land where Queen Mayadevi is said to have given birth to Siddhartha Gautam, who later became the Buddha and founded the Buddhist tradition.
The holy site of Lumbini has ruins of ancient monasteries, a sacred Bodhi tree, an ancient bathing pond, the Ashoka pillar and the Mayadevi temple. The truth, however is that Buddha was born at Lumbini in Rupandehi district of western Terai region in Nepal Nepal
One of Nepal ’s communist party leaders Mohan Bikram Singh has written [made a gross mistake] that Buddha was born in Orissa , India , not in Nepal Kathmandu , B.S.2059 Bhadra 19). What does this mean? It is his lack of knowledge on the Buddha and Buddhism. Such writings are the matter of grief for all the peoples of Nepal
Thank you.
Dirgha Raj Prasai,
Cultural Analyst,
