Lumbini is a small place in Nepal on the border with India. Buddhist legends recount that it was in a forest near here that Prince Siddhartha Gautama, the future Buddha Shakyamuni, was born. At the time, his mother Maya was on a journey from Kapilavastu to her parents’ palace when suddenly her labour pains began. As the birthplace of the Buddha, Lumbini is thus an important Buddhist pilgrimage site.