thumb|Lumbini pillar inscription by King [[Ripumalla: "Om Mani Padme Hum Sri Ripu Malla Chiram Jayatu 1234 Saka Era" ("Om Mani Padme Hum May Prince Ripu Malla be long victorious")|202x202px]]
Lumbini (, "the lovely" or "beautiful garden") is a Buddhist pilgrimage site in the Rupandehi District of Lumbini Province in Nepal. According to sacred texts and Buddhist commentaries, Maya Devi gave birth to Siddhartha Gautama in Lumbini, BCE. Siddhartha Gautama achieved Enlightenment and became Shakyamuni Buddha () who founded Buddhism. He later passed into parinirvana at the age of eighty, . Lumbini is one of four most sacred pilgrimage sites pivotal in the life of the Buddha.
Lumbini has a number of old temples, including the Mayadevi Temple, and several new temples funded by Buddhist organizations from various countries, a few of which are still under construction. Monuments, monasteries, stupas, a museum, and the Lumbini International Research Institute are also near to the holy site. There is a puskarini, or holy pond, where Mayadevi, the Buddha's mother, is believed to have taken ritual cleansing prior to his birth, and where he was first bathed. At other sites near Lumbini, earlier Buddhas were born, achieved ultimate Enlightenment and finally relinquished their earthly forms. has used geometrical methods to pin-point the location of Lumbini. The results indicate that Kapilavastu and Lumbini were located to the south of Rajgir. Out of two historical Kosala's, South Koshala was located to the south of Rajgir. The results reject North Kosala as Gautama Buddha's native country.
In Buddha's time
In the time of the Buddha, Lumbini was situated east of Kapilavastu and south-west of Devadaha of Shakya, an oligarchic republic. According to the Buddhist tradition, it was there that the Buddha was born. The Ashoka Pillar of Lumbini, a monolithic column with a Brahmi script inscription discovered at Rupandehi in 1896, is believed to mark the spot of Ashoka's visit to Lumbini. The site was not known as Lumbini before the pillar was discovered. The translation of inscription (by Paranavitana) reads:
The park was previously known as Rupandehi, north of Bhagavanpura. The Sutta Nipáta (vs. 683) states that the Buddha was born in a village of the Sákyans in the Lumbineyya Janapada. The Buddha stayed in Lumbinívana during his visit to Devadaha and there preached the Devadaha Sutta.
Pillar of Ashoka
In 1896, former Nepalese Army General Khadga Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana and Alois Anton Führer discovered a great stone pillar at Rupandehi. They used crucial historical records made by the famous Chinese monk-pilgrims Faxian (early 5th century CE), and Xuanzang (7th century CE). A Brahmi inscription found on the pillar gives evidence that Ashoka, emperor of the Maurya Empire, visited Lumbini in the 3rd-century BCE and identified it as the birth-place of the Buddha.
At the top of the pillar, there is a second inscription by King Ripumalla (1234 Saka Era, 13-14th century CE):