Kushinagar is a pilgrimage town in the Kushinagar district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is an important Buddhist pilgrimage site, where Buddhists believe Gautama Buddha attained Parinirvana after his death. It is an international Buddhist pilgrimage centre. The followers of Buddhism, especially from Asian countries, wish to visit this place at least once in their lifetime. The present Kushinagar is identified with Kusavati (in the pre-Buddha period) and Kushinara (in the post-Buddha period). Kushinara was the capital of Mallas which was one of the sixteen mahajanpads of the 6th Century BCE. Since then, it remained an integral part of the erstwhile empires of Maurya, Shunga, Kushana, Gupta, Harsha, and Pala dynasties. In the medieval period, Kushinagar had passed under the suzerainty of Kultury Kings. Kushinara continued to be a living city till the 12th century CE and was thereafter lost into oblivion. Padrauna is believed to be ruled over by a Rajput adventurer, Madan Singh, in the 15th century CE. In 1896, Waddell suggested that the site of the death and parinirvana of Gautama Buddha was in the region of Rampurva.However, according to the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, the Buddha made his journey to Kushinagar, died there and wherein he was cremated. It is believed that during his last day he walked into the groves of tress near the city and rejoiced at the blossoms of sala trees (Shorea robusta) before laying himself to rest. Modern scholarship, based on archaeological evidence, believes that the Buddha died in Kushinagar, close to the modern Kasia (Uttar Pradesh) Ashoka built a stupa and pilgrimage site to mark Buddha's parinirvana in Kushinagara.The Hindu rulers of the Gupta Empire (fourth to seventh century) helped greatly enlarge the Nirvana stupa and Kushinagar site, building a temple with reclining Buddha.This site was abandoned by Buddhist monks around 1200 CE, who fled to escape the invading Muslim army, after which the site decayed over the Islamic rule in India that followed.The British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham rediscovered Kushinagara in the late 19th century, and his colleague A. C. L. Carlleyle unearthed the 1,500-year-old Buddha image.The site has since then become an important pilgrimage site for Buddhists.Archaeological evidence from the 3rd century BCE suggests that the Kushinagara site was an ancient pilgrimage site.