The stupa Ashoka could not open
Buddhist texts tell that after the Buddha's death, his ashes were divided into eight portions to settle a dispute among the clans who claimed them. One went to the Koliyas, the people of his mother Maya Devi and his wife Yashodhara, who built a stupa at Ramagrama, one of their towns. Faxian, the Chinese pilgrim, came here in the 5th century and described the stupa beside a pond, guarded by a serpent.
Nepal's Department of Archaeology has studied the mound since the late 20th century. Its research dates the visible structure to between the Mauryan and Gupta periods. A geophysical survey found a square Kushan-era monastery buried in the field next to it, so full of brick that crops would not grow well, and farmers had long called it an unlucky field. The stupa's core, where any relics would lie, remains unexcavated.
In 1996 Nepal placed Ramagrama on UNESCO's tentative World Heritage list. In 2023 the Lumbini Development Trust signed an agreement for its conservation, and the architect Stefano Boeri presented a master plan for the site. Pilgrims from Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar come in growing numbers.
