Gotihawa & Niglihawa Ashoka pillars

Buddhism teaches that Siddhartha Gautama was not the first Buddha. Earlier Buddhas lived in previous ages, and tradition places the birthplaces of two of them, Krakuchhanda and Kanakamuni, in the Kapilvastu area.

Ashoka's tributes

Emperor Ashoka, on his pilgrimage through the region in the 3rd century BCE, honoured these sites with stone pillars. At Niglihawa, two pieces of a pillar lie beside a pond. Its inscription states that Ashoka enlarged the stupa of the Buddha Konakamana (Kanakamuni) and came to worship here — valuable evidence that earlier-Buddha cults already existed in his time.

At Gotihawa, the stump of another Ashoka pillar stands beside the remains of a brick stupa, associated by tradition with Krakuchhanda Buddha.

Why go

These are some of the oldest inscribed monuments in Nepal, standing quietly among village fields. Few travellers make it here, so you are likely to have them to yourself. Nearby Araurakot, a moated site, is traditionally held to be Kanakamuni's birthplace.