[Buddha-l] Buddha's birthplace in India (Piprahwa)?

[Franz Metcalf]

Dear All,

>> Any comments regarding the view that the Buddha's birthplace is in India?
> 
> Yes. What the hell difference does it make? Being born was not the accomplishment
> for which the Buddha is venerated.

True. What's more, there *was* no "India" at the time of the Buddha.

Last quarter I had a student from Nepal. He was quite keen to keep me from anachronistically (and India-centrically) using the world "India" to name Siddhartha's nation. Nor did I want to use "Nepal," which existed no more than "India" did. Searching for better alternatives, I usually went with "South Asia" or "the subcontinent" which work well enough for grad students but probably communicated absolutely zero to my undergrads. But then, why should that issue differ from the norm?

Franz
(who's between midterms and final papers and has time to waste on buddha-l)