The Buddha was born of the Aryan race in the Kashatriya of the Sakya clan, whose country lay along the south edge of Nepal. Its capital was Kapilavastu. His father , Suddhodana was Raja ( king ) of the Sakya clan. It was on a journey from Kapilavastu, that his mother, Maya ,gave birth to a son in the Lumbini Garden which lie just over the modern border of the Nepal Terai.

The child was called Siddhartha , the family name being Gotama.The boy led a normal life of ease of his birth . At sixteen , he married Yasodhara, and by her had a son, Rahula. But from earliest childhood, he had been usually self-possed and never satisfied for long with sensuous delights. He was a man with a mission . The dates of his life are still controversial, but it is probable that he was born in 563 BC,left home when he was 29, attained enlightenment when he was 35 and passed away in 483 BC, at the age of 80. But no biography was written for several hundred years after the Life had ended. As the centuries rolled by, each version of the Life acquired an increasing garland of fabulous adventure, miracle and heavenly assistance.

The story tells how the young prince, driving forth from the palace, saw an old man, then a sick man, then a dead man, and at the sight of each asked his charioteer the meaning of what he saw.

"This comes to all men" said the charioteer, and the prince’s mind was troubled that such was the effect of birth, the common cause. Then he saw a recluse with shaven head and a tattered yellow robe. "What man is this?" he asked, and was told it was one who had gone forth into homeless life. He returned to the palace, deeply pondering, and that night, he revolted from sensual pleasures , and the flame of compassion awoke within him. Not for the first time, but now with overpowering effect, he left the positive call to save not only himself but all mankind from birth in the world of suffering. He bade farewell to his sleeping wife and baby, and in the silence of the Indian night went forth with Channa, his charioteer, and Kanthaka, his

stallion. At the edge of the forest he alighted, cut off his long black hair with his sword and sent it back to the place by the hand of Channa. He exchanged his princely robes with those of a beggar, and went forth into the homeless life, alone.

He visited first Alara Kalama, a noted sage, and studied with him, but he found no answer to his heart ‘s imperious demand. So he went to Uddaka, another sage, and receive the same reply. He passed through the country of Magadha to the town of Uruvela, and there settled down in a grove of trees to find Enlightenment.

For six long years he mediated, practicing the utmost physical austerities until he all but wasted away. He conquered fear, subdued all lusts of the flesh; he developed and controlled his mind, but still he did not find Enlightenment. Finally he realized that not in austerities could truth be found . He decided to eat again, and the five ascetics living with him departed in disgust. He accepted a bowl of curds from a maid, Sugata, and having eaten and bathed, seated himself in the lotus posture at the foot of a tree, determinded to achieve without more delay the full fruits of Enghtenment. It was the night of the full moon of May, and he was thirsty five.

The journey was over, and a new Buddha , the fourth of his line, was born.