<P> When King Devandmpriya Priyadarsin had been anointed twenty years, he came himself and worshipped (this spot) because the Buddha Shakyamuni was born here . (He) both caused to be made a stone bearing a horse (?) and caused a stone pillar to be set up, (in order to show) that the Blessed One was born here . (He) made the village of Lummini free of taxes, and paying (only) an eighth share (of the produce). </P> <P> At the top of the pillar, there is a second inscription by king Ripumalla (13 - 14th century CE), who is also known from an inscription at the Nigali Sagar pillar: </P> <P> "Om mani padme hum May Prince Ripu Malla be long victorious" </P> <P> According to Robin Coningham, excavations beneath existing brick structures at the Mayadevi Temple at Lumbini provide evidence for an older timber structure beneath the walls of a brick Buddhist shrine built during the Ashokan era (3rd - century BCE). The layout of the Ashokan shrine closely follows that of the earlier timber structure, which suggests a continuity of worship at the site . The pre-Mauryan timber structure appears to be an ancient tree shrine . Radiocarbon dating of charcoal from the wooden postholes and optically stimulated luminescence dating of elements in the soil suggests human activity began at Lumbini around 1000 BCE . The site, states Coningham, may be a Buddhist monument from 6th - century BCE . Other scholars state that the excavations revealed nothing that is Buddhist, and they only confirm that the site predates the Buddha . </P>

The role of lumbini to popularize nepal in the world