Tirtha Atlas

The sacred geography of the Indic world — every site mapped, dated, storied, and cited.

1126 sites15 countries4 traditions30 centuries
Ancient · Buddhist · India

Lauria Nandangarh

लउरिया नन्दनगढ़

Lauriya, West Champaran, Bihar · 26.9985°, 84.4085°

Buddha (stupa mounds and Ashokan pillar)Maurya—
Sacred since
300 BCE
first attestation / structure
Standing structure
c. 3rd c. BCE (Maurya)
Maurya

History & significance

A Mauryan site in West Champaran with fifteen stupa mounds in three rows and a ten-metre polished sandstone Ashokan pillar crowned by a lion and carrying Brahmi edicts. Excavations by Cunningham, Bloch and Majumdar recovered figurines, pottery and, inside a miniature stupa, a birch-leaf manuscript of Buddhist text.

Sthala katha — the legend

Some hold that the 26 m brick mound is the stupa in which the Buddha's ashes were enshrined.

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Related sites

Sanchi Stupa
Sanchi · India
3rd c. BCE core; toranas 1st c. BCE/CE
Dharmarajika Stupa, Taxila
Taxila · Pakistan
Mauryan core, Kushan rebuilding
Sankissa
Sankisa, Farrukhabad · India
3rd c. BCE (Ashokan pillar and stupa)
Maya Devi Temple, Lumbini
Lumbini · Nepal
Ashokan brick temple c. 249 BCE; timber shrine of the 6th c. BCE beneath
Son Bhandar Caves
Rajgir, Nalanda · India
Maurya period; dedicatory inscription 4th c. CE
Barabar Caves
Barabar Hills, Jehanabad · India
c. 258-230 BCE (Maurya)

Sources

coordinates: wikipedia-2026-08-27 · sources retrieved 2026-08-26 · dynasty page: Maurya