For the layman unversed in Buddhist history and unfamiliar with this small but significant corner of the world, the names of people and places can be a bit of a struggle here. At times the text is as dense as the once impenetrable forest that lined the border between Nepal and India:

Hitherto in his search for Kapilavastu Anton Führer had only had the clues contained in the Buddha Kanakamuni inscription on the Asokan pillar at Nigliva Sagar and the contradictory accounts of the location of Kapilavastu in relation to the Kanakamuni relic stupa provided by the Chinese pilgrims.

This is a fascinating tale, which will appeal especially to India hands, though sometimes one cannot see the wood for the stupas.

Justin Marozzi’s The Man Who Invented History: Travels with Herodotus is published by John Murray.

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