Similarly, the objects of art, vessels, jewellery and other objects of daily use, either imported or
made locally, was typically Greek in form, and appearance, showing the assimilation of Greco Roman elements with local tradition.
Life Story of Gautama Buddha
The details of the life of the historic Gautama Buddha are obscured by a veil of legends and
myths, though the primary incidents of his life and the central theme of his religion, as preserved
in the Buddhist literature, are clear enough to provide a coherent picture. It has been recorded
that Gautama Buddha was the son of Suddhodana, a petty ruler of Magadha in Southern Behar.
He was born in 566 B.C. At the time of his birth, it was prophesied that he would renounce the
world on seeing a sick man, an old man and a corpse. To avoid the situation, the royal father
planned the life of young prince in such a way that he should not have to go out of the palace,
and every effort was made to hide world's miseries from him. When the king saw his son's
meditative turn of mind, he married him at the age of sixteen to a beautiful girl named
Yasodhara. However, he preferred solitude and thoughtfulness and paid little attention towards
the luxury and entertainments which his royal father had provided for him. At last, at the age of
twenty-nine, he decided to leave home in quest of Truth. In the darkness of night he rode away
towards the forest where he discarded his royal rubies and ornaments, cut his long hair with his
sword and became an ascetic.
During his early wanderings, he practiced rigid austerities and resorted to various kinds of selftortures. For six years he lived in this manner and was reduced to a skeleton. Yet real knowledge
he was seeking eluded him. Ultimately, he realized that self-mortification was not the way to
achieve the enlightenment. Therefore, he gave it up and accepted the food from a maiden named
Sujata who had gone there to worship a tree deity. After taking a bath in Narinjana River, he sat
under a Pipal tree at Bodhgaya.
Here at the age of thirty five, he attained the Enlightenment. The event raised Gautama from the
status of Bodhisattva to that of a Buddha. He then set out to preach the doctrines of his
philosophy and in the Deer Park of Sarnarth (Modern Banaras) delivered his first sermon which
was termed in Buddhist terminology the setting in motion the wheel of the Dharma. The simple
but universal truth explained by the Buddha appealed to the minds of the people and gradually
his following increased.
A year after the Event, Suddhodana heard of his son's glory and invited him to visit his capital
Kapilavastu. The Buddha accordingly came to his parental home. Suddhodana paid homage to
his son, as he was now a holy man. To his wife Yasodhara he looked more glorious in the monk's
robe than in the princely apparel. She threw herself at his feet. Hundreds of Sakya rulers and
other elite of the kingdom joined the religious fold. Sometimes, he performed miracles to support
his claim which often displeased and annoyed the Brahman Hindus. Indeed, they had foreseen in
him their own condemnation and the age-old, complicated and forsaken system they had evolved
for the common man.
When the Buddha attained the age of eighty years, he felt that his end was at hand. He proceeded
to Kusinagara (State in Northern India) and asked his disciple Anada to spread a cloth on the
ground between two Sala trees. He was born between two Sala trees in the Lumbini gardens, and
was to die in a similar state. He lay down and gave his last admonition to thousands of monks
who had assembled there to have a last glimpse of their master. He uttered his last words: Now
monks! I have nothing more to tell you but that all that is compassed is liable to decay. Strive
after salvation energetically. It was in the month of May the year 486 B.C., that the Buddha
passed away. His remains were cremated with royal honour and divided into eight parts to be
deposited into the stupas erected in the eight different parts of the Subcontinent.