Book excerpt: "[Allen] pieces the story together like shards of a broken vase."—Sara Wheeler,The Sunday Telegraph In this fascinating book, Charles Allen unravels the saga of an archeological discovery and a twisted tale of truth and lies that has divided Buddhist scholars for a century. Reconstructing the forested Tarai landscape of the fifth century BC in which the Buddha was raised, Allen employs a strong narrative to reveal the truth behind the alleged discovery of the Buddha's ashes in 1898 and the subsequent controversies that surrounded uncertain and compromised excavation and the numerous partiesinvolved.