As I researched Tilaurakot before my June 2025 trip to Nepal, I wondered to myself why Nepal hadn't just nominated it as an extension to Lumbini. Perhaps, I thought, there was more than meets the eye to this ancient city. Upon visiting, I could definitely say there is – in the sense that most of the original remains of the palaces are BELOW GROUND. According to the local guide, those brick foundations that poke up above ground are already reconstructions, and the original state of the palace is now only visible as the bottom layer of clearly different-colored bricks on the ground. So all we actually have of this ancient city, other than the artifacts that are now stored in the nearby museum, is its layout. Even if this were an influential capital back in its day, which it barely was, the poor remains can barely warrant inscription on their own. Even Lumbini can be found in a better state than this today, though those remains are from the later Ashokan period. Any possible OUV, to me, is mostly tied to its role in Buddha's life. Easy thumbs down from me; inscription this year would've been bittersweet, and Tilaurakot would've become one of my lowest-ranked WHS on its own. For once, I couldn't have agreed more with the WHC's decision to defer as a possible extension to Lumbini.

Tilaurakot is the core of a common day-trip circuit from Lumbini, and many other minor sites scatter the countryside around Kapilvastu. Many have even less to see than Tilaurakot, consisting of symbolic spots of Buddhist interest, Ashoka pillar sites, and stupas now covered in grass. However, one site stood out to me, not just over the other minor sites, but with remains more impressive than Tilaurakot or even Lumbini. That was Kudan, the site of Ancient Nigrodharam, where Buddha first met his father after his enlightenment and founded a monastery near his hometown. Here, three stupas stand, one covered in grass and crowned with a later brick building (looked to be a few hundred years old), and the other two still standing and fairly well-preserved, with brick walls towering two full stories on the central stupa. You can actually climb this one! The bricks still have intact carvings and designs, even a few depicting Buddha. Another brick ruin right beside the big stupa looked to be a part of the monastery as well. The security guard enthusiastically took us around and explained the lore of the site, including stories of Buddha's encounters with his father and of the first Buddhist nuns who were proclaimed here. I wouldn't mind Kudan as a WHS or as an extension to Tilaurakot, given that further studies on its history and authenticity are made, since information on this site is quite hard to come by.