Kushinagar - Religious Significance

Three months before he reached the age of eighty, the Buddha renounced his will to live at the Capala Shrine in Vesali. Travelling in stages via Pava where he ate his last meal, offered by the smith Cunda, he reached the final resting-place at the Sala grove of the Mallas by the bank of the Hirannavati river in Kushinagar. There, on the full-moon day of Wesak in 543 BC, the Buddha passed into Mahaparinbbana, the passing away into Nibbana wherein the elements of clinging do not arise (i.e. no more rebirth). His last convert was the wandering ascetic Subhadda and his last words to the bhikkhus were:

“Handa ‘dani bhikkhave amantayami vo: Vaya-dhamma sankhara. Appamadena sampadetha.”

“Indeed, bhikkhus, I declare this to you: It is the nature of all conditioned things to perish. Accomplish all your duties with mindfulness.”
(Translation)

The Buddha was lying on his right side between two Sala trees with his head to the north when he breathed his last. After his Mahaparinibbana, his body was taken into the town by the northern gate and out through the eastern gate to the shrine of the Mallas called the Makutabandhana. They were unable to light the funeral pyre until Ven. Maha Kassapa came and paid his respects. After the cremation, the relics were divided into eight equal portions by the brahmin Dona, who distributed them to eight clans, namely:

• King Ajatasattu of Magadha,
• the Licchavis of Vesali,
• the Sakyans of Kapilavatthu,
• the Bulians of Allakappa,
• the Koliyans of Ramagama,
• the brahman of Vethadipa,
• the Mallas of Pava, and
• the Mallas of Kushinagar.

Dona himself kept the urn used for dividing the relics. When the Moriyas of Pipphalavana arrived, it was too late as all the relics had been distributed, so they took from there the ashes. Returning home, these men raised stupas to honour them. So it came about that there were eight stupas for the relics, a ninth for the urn, and a tenth for the ashes.