- published: 24 Sep 2014
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Kapilavastu (Pāli: Kapilavatthu) is the name of a place in the ancient Shakya kingdom where Gautama Buddha grew up, and which contained his family home and garden. It is assumed to be some 10 kilometers to the west of his known birth place Lumbini. The latter reference point is marked by an Ashoka Pillar and was granted World Heritage status by UNESCO.
The nineteenth-century search for the historical site of Kapilavastu followed the accounts left by Xuanzang and Faxian. Archaeologists have identified the Tilaurakot archeological site in Nepal as a possible location for Kapilavastu. It is widely accepted that the Lord Buddha spent the first 29 years of his life in the vicinity of Kapilavastu.