Siddhartha, also known as Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, was born about 2500 years ago.
Siddhartha belonged to a small gana known as the Sakya gana, and was a kshatriya.
When he was a young man, he left the comforts of his home in search of knowledge. He wandered for several years, meeting and holding discussions with other thinkers.
He finally decided to find his own path to realisation, and meditated for days on end under a peepal tree at Bodh Gaya in Bihar, where he attained enlightenment. After that, he was known as the Buddha or the Wise One.
He then went to Sarnath, near Varanasi, where he taught for the first time. He spent the rest of his life travelling on foot, going from place to place, teaching people, till he passed away at Kusinara.
Teachings
The Buddha taught that life is full of suffering and unhappiness. This is caused because we have cravings and desires (which often cannot be fulfilled).
Sometimes, even if we get what we want, we are not satisfied, and want even more (or want other things).
The Buddha described this as thirst or tanha. He taught that this constant craving could be removed by following moderation in everything.
He also taught people to be kind, and to respect the lives of others, including animals. He believed that the results of our actions (called karma), whether good or bad, affect us both in this life and the next.
The Buddha taught in the language of the ordinary people, Prakrit, so that everybody could understand his message.
He also encouraged people to think for themselves rather than to simply accept what he said.
Upanishads
At the time of Buddha, many people started thinking about the various philosophies of life.
Many of these thinkers felt that there was something permanent in the universe that would last even after death. They described this as the atman or the individual soul and the brahman or the universal soul.
They believed that ultimately, both the atman and the brahman were one.
Many of their ideas were recorded in the Upanishads. These were part of the later Vedic texts.
Upanishad literally means ‘approaching and sitting near’ and the texts contain conversations between teachers and students. Often, ideas were presented through simple dialogues.
Most Upanishadic thinkers were men, especially brahmins and rajas. Occasionally, there is mention of women thinkers, such as Gargi, Apala, Ghosha, and Maitreyi, who were famous for their learning, and participated in debates.
Poor people rarely took part in these discussions. One famous exception was Satyakama Jabala, who was named after his mother, the slave woman Jabali.
He had a deep desire to learn about reality, was accepted as a student by a brahmin teacher named Gautama, and became one of the best-known thinkers of the time.
Six Schools of Indian Philosophy
Six schools of Indian philosophy are – Vaishesika, Nyaya, Samkhya, Yoga, Purva Mimansa and Vedanta or Uttara Mimansa.
These six systems of philosophy are said to have been founded by sages Konada, Gotama, Kapila, Patanjali, Jaimini and Vyasa, respectively.
German-born British indologist, Friedrich Max Muller, has observed that the six systems of philosophy were developed over many generations with contributions made by individual thinkers.
However, today, we find an underlying harmony in their understanding of truth, although they seem distinct from each other.
What is tribute?
Unlike taxes, which were collected on a regular basis, tribute was collected as and when it was possible from people who gave a variety of things, more or less willingly:
Facts:
Megasthenes was an ambassador who was sent to the court of Chandragupta by the Greek ruler of West Asia named Seleucus Nicator.
Dhamma’ is the Prakrit word for the Sanskrit term ‘Dharma’.
Most modern Indian scripts have developed from the Brahmi script over hundreds of years, e.g., Devanagari (Hindi) script, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil.
