Buddhist Remains, Piprahwa & Ganwaria

Piprahwa and the adjacent site of Ganwaria are twin archaeological sites in Siddharthnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, in the region traditionally associated with the homeland of the Buddha. Piprahwa is best known for a large stupa mound excavated in 1898 by the British colonial engineer William Claxton Peppe, who uncovered a reliquary casket regarded as one of the earliest authenticated finds connected with relics of the Buddha, given to his own Shakya clan.

Further excavation of the stupa by the Archaeological Survey of India between 1971 and 1977 uncovered two additional steatite relic caskets containing a total of 22 sacred bone relics, now held by the National Museum. At the neighbouring mound of Ganwaria, excavations begun by Peppe in 1906 and continued by the ASI in the 1970s revealed ancient residential complexes and shrines. Some scholars identify the combined Piprahwa-Ganwaria site with the ancient city of Kapilavastu, capital of the Shakya kingdom where Siddhartha Gautama is said to have spent his early life.

The Piprahwa archaeological site has been under ASI protection since 1952 and today includes the stupa and monastery ruins along with an on-site museum.