Buddha was born in Nepal. Or rather Siddhartha Gautama, who would become Buddha, was born in Lumbini, which is now included in Nepal (but such a country as Nepal did not exist in the Buddha's time). It should not be surprising, then, that Buddhism is an important part of Nepal's religious landscape, despite there being a significant Hindu majority. Apparently, something like 80% of Nepalis identify as Hindu, while only 10% identify as Buddhist. However, these percentages don't clearly tell the story. For one thing, it obscures just how pervasive Buddhism is in the country. There are Buddhist stupas everywhere - including a few from the age of Ashoka, the famous Indian king who adopted Buddhism after having a change of heart over this earlier, blood-thirsty warrior ways and who supposedly had 84,000 stupas build across
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