Nepal working to secure UNESCO World Heritage Site status for Tilaurakot, where Buddha spent his early years

The International Council on Monuments and Sites is set to visit Tilaurakot this year for evaluation.

In 1988, at the invitation of King Birendra, prime minister of Sri Lanka Ranasinghe Premadasa had visited Lumbini, the birthplace of Gautam Buddha. After paying homage in Lumbini Premadasa wished to visit Tilaurakot , an ancient Shakya capital city where Siddhartha Gautam spent his princely life before he became the Buddha. He told his guide Bhikshu Maitri Mahasthvir that his visit would be incomplete unless he saw Tilaurakot. But the monk replied that there was no motorable road to Tilaurakot, which is about 26 kilometres west from Lumbini.