KAPILVASTU

Kapilvastu was the capital of the Shakya clan, into which Buddha was born as the son of the clan’s king Suddhodhana. It is said that Buddha had decided he would be born to queen Maya Devi. Legends say his mother had dreamt that a white elephant had entered her womb. Ten months later, as she strolled in a garden in Lumbini, around 50 km from Kapilvastu, Buddha was born in a miracle. It is said he was able to walk and talk soon after his birth and a lotus flower blossomed under his foot at each step. While Lumbini (now in Nepal) is where Buddha was born, it was in Kapilvastu (the modern-day villages of Piprahwa, Ganvaria and Salagarh in Uttar Pradesh) that he spent the early years of his life, before renouncing material pleasures when he was 30.  It is said that as a child, the prince was once found meditating under a tree, whose shadow had remained motionless throughout the day to protect him from the sun.

An astrologer had predicted during his birth that the prince would renounce his royal life if he saw grief. So his father shielded him from the ills of the world. And at 16 years of age he married the beautiful princess Yashodhara. However, when the prince was 29, he asked to be taken on a chariot ride through the city. While the king made sure all old and sick people had been removed from Buddha’s path, one old man remained and the prince spotted him. After that, the prince travelled outside his protected palace gates three times. On one occasion he saw a sick person, then a corpse and finally an ascetic meditating. Having been exposed to the ills of human life and also to those who seek truth beyond regular life, he asked the king for permission to retire to the forest.

Today Kapilvastu is a laidback town with a mystic charm. There are several stupas scattered around which were built by Ashoka and the Gupta Kings.