Gautam, alias Siddharatha, the founder of Buddhism, was born about 568 B.C. at Lumbinivana in Nepal on the Indian border. His father Suddhodhana was Kshatriya by caste and the chief of the Sakya clan, which had its capital at Kapilavastu. His mother Maya died seven days after his birth. Therefore, he was brought up by his mother's sister Mahaprajapati Gautami. He was married to Yashodhara when he was sixteen years of age and had a son named Rahula at the age of 28. However, his mind was influenced by the prevailing spiritual unrest and as tradition describes it, he was troubled at the sight of an old man, a sick person and a dead body, and then, attracted by the appearance of an ascetic, left his home at the age of 29. he first became the disciple of Arada who lived near vaishali and, afterwards, that of Rudraka Ramputra who lived near Rajagriha. But he did not feel satisfied. He then practised meditation by himself. Ultimately, on the forty-ninth day of his continous meditation under pipal tree at Uruvela near Gaya, he got enlightenment. Henceforth, he was called Buddha(the Enlightened one).
He preached his first sermon at the Deer park at Sarnath near varanasi which was called Turning the Wheel of Law. He then travelled to different places and gave his message to the people particularly in the states of Magadha, Kosala, Vaishali, Kaushambi and Anga. Kings like Bimbisara and Ajatshatru of Magadha, presanjit of Kosala and Udayana of Kaushambi and thier near relatives like Mallika, wife of prasenjit, his two sisters soma and sakula, wife of udayana, samavati, the famous couresan of Vaishali, Amrapali and many rish and prominent Kshatriyas and Vaishyas either became his disciples or devotees. While he was at Vaishali he agreed in the formation of an order of nuns. He visisted kapilavastu also and converted his foster-mother Gautami and his son Rahula in his faith. In the west, he went as far as Veranja near Mathura. He wasinvited by King Pradyota of Avanti though he declined his offer and sent one of his disciples there. In the end he reached Kusinara, the capital of Malla(in the modern Deoria district of U.P.) and died there at the age of eighty about 486 B.c. During his own lifetime, Buddha had succeeded in making Buddhism a popular religion in most of the north-eastern part of India.
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