ABSTRACT
Lumbinī (Terai, Nepal), the birthplace of the Buddha, was the last major site linked to the life of the Buddha which was identified through the presence of an inscribed Ashokan pillar at the end of the 19th century. The pillar became the centre of the archaeological and religious site until more recent archaeological activities. Around the time of Lumbinī’s inscription as World Heritage Site in 1997 the focus was shifted to a newly excavated stone, the “Marker Stone”, which was claimed by the excavators to mark the exact spot of the Buddha’s birth, an interpretation which was eventually accepted in religious practice and found its way into the documentation of the site by the UNESCO. This chapter traces the shift of meaning given to a heritage site through unsubstantiated interpretation of archaeological data and raises questions about the historical and public integrity of heritage sites.
