Italian archeologists dig up award

Peace Times 10

«In the 20th year of his reign, King Pivadassi Ashoka so loved by the gods, came and venerated this place where BuddhaShakyamuni was born»: thus inscribed is a column erected in Lumbini by Ashoka, the Indian emperor who lived during the second half of the 2nd Century A.C. And it is this text - the oldest Buddhist document in the hands of scholars - which spurred a group of Italian archeologists to search for the Palace of Suddhodana, Siddhartha’s father, on the traces of the first 30 years of life of Siddhartha, the Enlightened One, the historical Buddha who lived during the 5th Century A.C.

Following in the footsteps of Giuseppe Tucci, the famous orientalist of the 30s, the research work began 15 years ago and led to the discovery of a series of archeological sites all around Lumbini. The discovery earnt Gherardo Gnoli, President of the Italian Institute for Africa and the Orient, the highest decoration by the country of Nepal, which was given to him by the King for «The high value of the work done in Nepal by the Institute, in the field of archeology». r.p.