Kudan

Name: Kudan
Address: Kudan, Kapilvastu, Kapilvastu, Lumbini Province, NP

Where father and son met againHistory & ruins◆ Hidden gem1 min read

Also known as: कुदान · Nigrodharama · Kudan Buddha

Kudan — Where father and son met again — Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Brick stupa mounds south of Taulihawa, traditionally identified with the Nigrodha grove where the Buddha met his father, King Suddhodana, after his enlightenment — and where his son Rahula is said to have been ordained.

After his enlightenment the Buddha returned to Kapilavastu, and Buddhist texts describe a moving reunion with his father, King Suddhodana, in a banyan (nigrodha) grove outside the city, where a monastery was later built.

The site

Kudan, a few kilometres south of Taulihawa, is traditionally identified with that grove. Excavated brick stupas and monastery foundations stand in a small park, along with a pond. A modern Shiva linga shrine on the site shows how Hindu and Buddhist devotion overlap in the region.

Rahula's ordination

Tradition also places here the ordination of Rahula, the Buddha's son, as a novice monk — the start of the Buddhist novice tradition.

Visiting

Kudan is small and rarely visited, and fits easily into a day with Tilaurakot, Gotihawa and Niglihawa.

Photo gallery

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