ලුම්බිනී ස්තම්භලේඛය

**ලුම්බිනී ස්තම්භලේඛය** හෙවත් **ලුම්බිනී ස්තම්භ අභිලේඛනය**, **පාදේරියා අභිලේඛනය** යනුවෙන් හැඳින්වෙන්නේ 1896 දෙසැම්බරයේ දී ඇලොයිස් ඇන්ටන් ෆියුරර් විසින් නූතන නේපාලයේ ලුම්බිනියේ අශෝක ස්තම්භයෙන් සොයාගනු ලැබූ පුරාතන බ්‍රාහ්මී අක්ෂරවලින් ලියන ලද අභිලේඛනයකි. මේ හා සමාන තවත් ප්‍රකට අභිලේඛනයක් වන්නේ නිගාලි-සාගර් අභිලේඛනයයි. ලුම්බිනී අභිලේඛනය අශෝකයන්ගේ ලඝු ස්තම්භලේඛ අතරට වර්ගීකරණය කොට තිබුණ ද, මෙය අතීත කාල සහ සාමාන්‍ය ප්‍රථම පුරුෂ (රාජකීය අයුරින් නොවේ) ස්වභාවයෙන් රචනාකොට ඇති හෙයින්, මෙය අශෝකයන් මෙම ස්ථානය බැහැදැකීම අනුස්මරණය කරනු වස් පිහිටුවූවක් බවත්, එය රජු විසින්ම ස්ථාපිත කළ ආඥාවක් බැව් පෙනේ.

## Discovery of the pillar
Ancient historical records of the Buddhist monuments of the region, made by the ancient Chinese monk-pilgrim Xuanzang in the 7th century CE and by another ancient Chinese monk-pilgrim Faxian in the early 5th century CE, had been used in an effort to search for the place of birth of the Buddha, said to be in Lumbini, and his ancient city of Kapilavastu. The Lumbini pillar itself, set up where the Buddha was born, was mentioned by Xuanzang, who said that it was surmounted by the sculpture of a horse and that it had been broken in half, but he never mentioned the presence of an inscription, which, according to Vincent A. Smith, may already have been hidden by the time he visited in the 7th century.

The pillar was supported underground by a brick base, which according to Vincent A. Smith had to be of a comparatively more recent date. He suggested that the fallen pillar had been re-erected at the time of the Buddhist Pala dynasty, in the 11th or 12th century. 

The existence of the stone pillar itself was already known before the discovery: it had already been reported to Vincent A. Smith by a local landowner named Duncan Ricketts, around twelve years before (circa 1884). Rubbings of the Medieval inscriptions on top of the pillar had been sent by Ricketts, but they were thought of no great consequence. Führer has also heard about the pillar in 1895, while he was investigating the nearby Nigali-Sagar pillar.]]
According to some accounts, Fuhrer found the Lumbini pillar on December 1st, and then asked the help of local commander, General Khadga Samsher Rana, to excavate it. According to other accounts General Khadga Samsher Rana knew the location of the pillar and led Führer to it. Reportedly, Fuhrer was not present when the inscription was discovered, as he arrived only "a little later", but Ricketts was witness to it. 

## Aftermath
 own report on the discovery, entitled ''Monograph on Buddha Sakyamuni's birthplace'', 1897]]
Following the discovery of the pillar, Führer relied on the accounts of ancient Chinese pilgrims to search for Kapilavastu, which he thought had to be in Tilaurakot. Unable to find anything significant, he started excavating some structures at Sagarwa, which he said were stupas of the Shakyas, and was in the process of faking pre-Mauryan inscriptions on bricks, when he was caught in the act by Vincent Arthur Smith.

Soon after, Alois Anton Führer was exposed as "a forger and dealer in fake antiquities", and had to resign from his position in 1898. Vincent Arthur Smith further revealed in 1901 the blunt truth about Führer's Nepalese discoveries, saying of Führer's description of the archaeological remains at Nigali Sagar that "every word of it is false", and characterizing several of Führer's epigraphic discoveries in the area, including the inscriptions at the alleged Shakya stupas at Sagarwa, as "impudent forgeries". However Smith never challenged the authenticity of the Lumbini pillar inscription and the Nigali Sagar inscription.

Führer had written in 1897 a monograph on his discoveries in Nigali Sagar and Lumbini, ''Monograph on Buddha Sakyamuni's birth-place in the Nepalese tarai'' which was withdrawn from circulation.

## Issues of authenticity
Although generally accepted as genuine, this inscription does raise a few issues in terms of authenticity:
* The Lumbini inscription is in the third person, written by someone reporting a past visit of Devanampriya Priyadarsi, and is not written in Devanampriya Priyadarsi's own name contrary to all known edicts.
* The qualifier used for the Buddha in the inscription is *Sakyamuni* (), which is normally a Sanskritized form of the Prakrit *Sakamuni* ( "Sage of the Sakas), although the fully Sanskritized form would be *Śakyamuni* (, pronounced *"Shakyamuni"*). The problem is that the rest of the inscription is entirely in Prakrit, and Sanskrit inscriptions are not otherwise attested before the 1st century BCE-1st century CE.

* The Buddha is never mentioned in the Major Pillar Edicts nor in the Major Rock Edicts, and only appears once in the Bairat Temple inscription.
* The inscription was discovered by Alois Anton Führer, who is also known to have forged Brahmi inscriptions on ancient stone artefacts, so there is a possibility that he is the actual author of the inscription. The engraving is in extremely good condition and seems fresh: when Rhys Davids made a copy of the inscription in 1900, he noted that it was "almost as if freshly cut". Following re-examination fifty years later, academics commented: "The pillar bears an inscription of Asoka, very well preserved. The lines are straight and letters very tastefully written. It appears as if the inscription has been very recently incised."

On these grounds, Christopher I. Beckwith considers the Lumbini inscription as a later work, posterior to the 1st century CE at least,

## Gallery

File:BRP Lumbini Ashoka pillar.jpg|The pillar of Ashoka.
File:Lumbini - Pillar Edict in Brahmi Script, Lumbini (9241396121).jpg|The Ashoka inscription on the pillar today.
File:Paderia Pillar.png|Rubbing of the inscription.
File:Buddha Sakyamuni on the Rummindei pillar of Ashoka.jpg|The words *Bu-dhe* (𑀩𑀼𑀥𑁂, the Buddha) and *Sa-kya-mu-nī* ( , "Sage of the Shakyas") in Brahmi script.
File:Lummini Gaame inscription.jpg|*Luṃmini Gāme* (𑀮𑀼𑀁𑀫𑀺𑀦𑀺𑀕𑀸𑀫𑁂, "City of Lumbini") inscription in the Rummindei Edict of Ashoka.
File:Lumbini pillar Medieval inscription.jpg|Lumbini pillar Medieval inscription of king Ripumalla, 13-14th century CE.
File:Lumbini pillar capital.jpg|thumb|Lumbini pillar capital.
File:Rummindei view of the ruins and the Lumbini pillar from the South.jpg|View of the ruins and the Lumbini pillar from the South
File:Devanampiya Piyadasi inscriptions.jpg|Various "Devanampiya Piyadasi" inscriptions on the Pillars of Ashoka.

## References