The archaeological remains at the site were previously dated to the third-century BCE brick buildings constructed by Ashoka.

The Buddhist legends mention that Queen Mayadevi was on her way to her father's Koliya kingdom when she stopped near the garden of Lumbini to rest under a Sal tree and then went into labour, giving birth to Gautama Buddha.

[6] Maya Devi temple houses the marker stone and the nativity sculpture related to the birth of Gautama Buddha.

The ancient Maya Devi temple was built during the visit of emperor Ashoka in Lumbini around 249 BC using burnt bricks to safeguard the marker stone and nativity sculpture [7] The radiocarbon dating of the posthole alignments from the surrounding soils have indicated that the sacred space was first delineated within the Maya Devi temple in the 6th century BCE.

[8] From 2010, an archeological team consisting of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Durham University, Nepal's Department of Archaeology, and the Lumbini Development Trust initiated excavation work at the Maya Devi temple supported by the Government of Japan.