Siddhartha Nagar district lies between 270 N to 270 28 ‘N and 820 45’ E to 830 10 ‘E near the north eastern border of Uttar Pradesh. History of the district is associated with the life of Gautam Buddha, founder of Buddhism. Kapilavastu was the capital of his father Shuddodhan. This district has been named after the name of Gautam Buddha’s childhood name Prince “Siddhartha”. In the past, area was covered with forests and of Himalayan foothills was part of Shakya dynasty. In the sixth century BC, the Shakyons built their capital in Kapilvastu and established a powerful republic here. This region was once again deserted with pace of time. This entire region formerly belonged to the district of Gorakhpur. In 1801, Gorakhpur devision was transferred to East India Company by the nawab of Awadh, Boundary of this region covered in eastern border of Bihar and from the south border of Jaunpur, Ghazipur and Faizabad and western border Gonda and Bahraich. A after the war in 1816 Vinayakpur and Tilpur were handed over to Nepal under an agreement. In 1865,most part of the Maghar Pargana and some parts of Pargana Vinayakpur were seprated from the district Gorakhpur and from this seprated region district Basti came into existance.Piperhava Stupa was excavated by W.C. Pepe in the year 1897-98. In 1898, it was published in the Journal of Royal Asiatic Society. In 1973-74, the excavation of this site was done under the guidance of Prof. K. M. Shrivastav and confirmed the existance of kapilvastu at Piprahwa. Several important events related to the life of Gautam Buddha occur in this area. In Kapilavastu, Raj Prasad ruins of Buddhist Bihars built in the era of Buddha and the mortal remains of Shakya Muni have been found. After the discovery of Kapilavastu, the Uttar Pradesh Government, on the basis of Notification No. -5-4 (4) / 76-135-00-5 (b) dated December 23, 1988 of section-5 dated 29th December 1988, Separating northern part of Basti, cretaed a new district called “Siddharthnagar”.
