Iron Age Buddha's death When
the Buddha reached his eightieth year, according to the
Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta (
Sutta 16 of the
Dīgha Nikāya), he and some of his disciples undertook a months-long journey from
Rājagṛha, through
Pāṭaliputta,
Vesāli,
Bhoganagara, and
Pāvā, to their final destination at Kushinagar. At Pāvā,
Cunda, a resident, invited the group to a meal that featured a food called
sūkaramaddava. Buddha was afflicted by a painful illness resembling
dysentery soon after eating it. After the meal, the Buddha crossed the Kakkuttha River (now called the
Khanua River) and completed his journey to Kushinagar. According to the
Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta, the Buddha attained
parinirvana shortly after his arrival in Kushinagar. Seven days after his
parinirvana, the
remains of the Buddha were cremated at that location. Originally his ashes were to go only to the
Sakya clan, to which the Buddha belonged. Six other clans and
a king demanded the ashes of the Buddha. To resolve the dispute a
Brahmin named Drona divided the ashes into eight portions, distributed as follows: to
Ajātasattu, king of
Magadha; to the
Licchavis of
Vesāli; to the
Sakyas of
Kapilavastu; to the
Bulis of
Allakappa; to the
Koliyas of
Rāmagāma; to the
brahmin of
Veṭhadīpa; to the
Mallas of
Pāvā; and to the Malla King ( Baghochiya ) of Kushinagar. In addition to these eight portions, two other relics were distributed at that time: Drona the brahmin received
the vessel in which the body had been cremated, and the
Moriyas of
Pipphalivana received the remaining ashes of the funeral pyre. According to
Buddhaghosa, Each of these ten portions was placed in a
reliquary (such as the
Kanishka casket or the
Bimaran casket) and buried in a
tumulus. Kushinagar came back into prominence when
Alexander Cunningham performed archaeological excavations at the Matha Kuar shrine and Ramabhar
stupa in 1861-1862. Cunningham was the first archaeologist to identify the ruins as being the site of the
parinirvana of the Buddha. He conducted archaeological campaigns in 1904–1905, 1905-1906 and 1906–1907, uncovering a wealth of Buddhist materials. In 1896,
Laurence Waddell suggested that the site of the death and
parinirvana of Gautama Buddha was in the region of
Rampurva. However, according to the
Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta, the Buddha made his journey to Kushinagar, where he walked into a grove of
sala trees and laid himself to rest on his right side, his head resting on a cushion or relying on his right elbow, supporting his head with his hand. There, he attained
parinirvana and his body was cremated after seven days.
Archaeological evidence and the
historical record both support the assertion that the Buddha was cremated in Kushinagar. Evidence from the 3rd century BCE suggests that Kushinagar was an ancient pilgrimage site. The Hindu rulers of the
Gupta Empire (fourth to seventh century CE) enlarged the stupa and constructed a temple containing a reclining Buddha statue. This site was abandoned by Buddhist monks around 1200 CE, who fled to escape the invading Muslim army, after which the site decayed during the Islamic rule in India that followed. British archaeologist
Alexander Cunningham rediscovered Kushinagar in the late 19th century, and his colleague
Archibald Carlleyle unearthed the 1,500-year-old reclining Buddha statue. The site has since then become an important pilgrimage site for Buddhists.
20th century After India's
independence, Kushinagar remained a part of the district of
Deoria. On 13 May 1994, it came into being as a new district of
Uttar Pradesh. ==Modern Kushinagar==