Kapilavastu of Ancient Shakya Kingdom cherishes beneath it not only the tangible archaeological remains but also a vast intangibly tangible cultural and spiritual treasure.

With its sack that resulted in the massacre of a great number of Shakyas, "Kapilavastu" gradually disappeared from the world's physical map, and its legacy went into oblivion in the history down the ages.

The search for "Kapilavastu", the lost capital city of ancient Shakya Kingdom, began from the first millennia CE. In this course, as a part of their pilgrimage, prominent Chinese pilgrims Faxian and Zuanzang visited ancient Kapilavastu in the 5th and 7th CE, respectively and mentioned in their travelogue the details regarding the whereabouts and locations of "Kapilavastu " as well as distances from one heritage to another along with other socio-economic, cultural and geographical features.

PC Mukherjee, representing the Indian archaeological survey team, visited Kapilavastu as a part of his archaeological exploration mission in the western terai region of Nepal, and rediscovered the ancient capital city of Kapilavastu in 1899 AD. tracing the details described in the travelogues by the Chinese pilgrims.

As soon as the news spread about the discovery of the lost ancient capital city of Kapilavastu, people from around the world started visiting "Tilaurakot-Kapilavastu" as well as other important archaeological and cultural heritage sites of the ancient Shakya Kingdom.

And archaeological explorations and excavations at archaeologically potential sites within and around the ancient capital city of Kapilavastu commenced as well in order to further investigate and gather more and more meaningful and convincing evidences towards satisfying the requirements for "Tilaurakot" to be officially recognised as the actual ancient capital city of Kapilavastu.

As a result of a series of scientific investigations and excavations carried out by different teams of technical experts at different periods and time frame representing the Archaeological Survey of India, Risho University, Japan, ISMEO, Italy and Durham University, UK in collaboration with the Department of Archaeology, Lumbini Development Trust, Government of Nepal, ample evidence was discovered that helped the Government of Nepal to submit the final nomination dossier to UNESCO in order for "Tilaurakot" to be granted world heritage status.

Thus, efforts towards discovering tangible archaeological heritages in Kapilavastu have been noticeably successful though there is still much left to be done with regard to excavating, identifying, presenting, preserving and promoting most of out of over 136 archaeological as well as cultural heritage sites situated throughout Kapilavastu district itself that makes the district an open museum.

Besides, institutional initiatives with practicable strategies and measures are the need of the hour as well in order to be able to discover the vast intangible cultural as well as spiritual heritages and harvest the very essence they cherish deep within.

As both the treasures, tangible and intangible ones, play a crucial role towards enriching our cultural legacy that advances human capital, cultivating peace and harmony from within, these intangible heritages cherishing immense spiritual values deep within also need to be discovered, harvested, presented, preserved and promoted like the tangible heritages.

Ancient Kapilavastu, the hermitage of sage Kapilamuni, the sacred land of Bodhisattvas and Tathagat Buddha, cherishes in its heart the very "grace and divine energy" of the Buddha, as well as the unwavering perseverance, dedication, devotion, sacrifices and incredible contribution of Queen Mothers: Mayadevi and Mahaprajapati Gautami, Crown Princess Yashodhara, Prince Rahul, King Suddhodana, Horse Kanthaka, as well as many others of Kapilavastu.

Time has come for the spiritual excavation and exploration to discover the vast intangibly tangible cultural as well as spiritual heritage and harvest its very essence that went into oblivion down the centuries after the sack of Kapilavastu.

It is high time that the history be revisited, cultural legacy be enlivened and the very essence of the vast cultural and spiritual heritage cherished in the heart of Ancient Kapilavastu be harvested and offered to the whole world as the very gift of the ancient wisdom from the world cultural and spiritual heritage zone so that the entire humanity can benefit immensely from them.

Yadav is President of Lotus Sutra