Dawn at the Maya Devi Temple

We reach the Sacred Garden as the gates open, when the air is cool and pilgrims from Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Tibet and India arrive in white or saffron to chant and meditate. Cars stop some distance away, and we walk or take an electric cart down the long approach. Shoes are left at a counter before the temple, and silence is kept inside. Our guide explains the story of the birth and the evidence, both archaeological and written, that ties it to this spot.

The Maya Devi Temple is a modern white building that protects the excavated brick foundations of earlier temples and stupas, some more than two thousand years old. A raised walkway leads round the ruins to the marker stone, set behind glass, which tradition holds marks the exact place of the birth. Nearby is a worn stone relief showing Maya Devi holding the branch of a tree as the infant Buddha emerges. Photography is not permitted inside the temple, which keeps it calm.

Outside, the Ashoka Pillar stands behind a low fence, its Brahmi inscription recording the emperor's visit around 249 BCE. Beside it lies the Puskarini pond, where Maya Devi is said to have bathed, and a bodhi tree hung with prayer flags, where pilgrims sit through the morning. We spend unhurried time here before breakfast. A foreign visitor entry fee applies to the Sacred Garden; check current status before you travel.