THE BUDDHA'S AWAKENING .11Buddha; others focus more on his personal qualities as models for Buddhists
to emulate. The following account is based largely on one of the earliest ex-
tant sources-the Pali Canon as preserved by the Theravada school (see Sec-
tion 3.1)-and on Asvagho~a's epic retelling of the legend.1.3.1 Birth and Youth of the Bodhisattva
The Sakyas, the Buddha's ancestors, were members of a noble k~atriya (war-
rior) class inhabiting a border district on the northeastern Ganges River plain
just below the Himalayan foothills. For some unknown reason, they used a
clan name from the brahmin class-Gautama (descendent of the sage Gotama).
The Bodhisattva's father, Suddhodana, was the chief aristocrat of the town of
Kapilavastu, the remains of which have been tentatively identified by archae-
ologists on the present-day border between India and Nepal. During the later
period when monarchies had become the norm in India, Buddhist chroni-
clers-including Asvagho~a-portrayed Suddhodana as a king, but the earlier
texts reveal that he was simply one of a council of rulers of the Sakyan agrar-
ian republic. His republic, like many republics at that time, was eventually an-
nexed by the nearby kingdom ofKosala toward the end of the Buddha's life.
The Buddhist tradition dates the birth of Sakyamuni (Sage of the Sakyas)
at around 624 B.C.E. Recent scholarship, however, places his birth at either
566 or 448 B.C.E. Buddhists celebrate his nativity on the full moon ofVaisakha
(April-May), the fourth month in the Indian calendar. According to the leg-
end, he was conceived when his mother, Maya, dreamed that a white ele-
phant entered her body through the side. When her delivery time was
approaching, she retired to the wooded garden of Lumbini, near Kapilavastu.
There-standing with her upstretched right hand on the branch of a tree, a
familiar fertility pose in Indian art-she gave birth to the Bodhisattva. The
newborn child stood up, strode seven paces, and declared that this was his last
birth: He was destined ,for Awakening. Shortly thereafter, Asita, an aged sage,
examined the infant and prophesied that he would become a Buddha. Other
accounts specified that he would become such only if he chose to leave the
palace to become a wandering ascetic; otherwise, he would become a univer-
sal monarch, ruling over the entire Indian subcontinent. The parents named
the boy Siddhartha, "he who has achieved his ultimate goal."
The mythic elements in the nativity cycle present the Bodhisattva as in-
nately different from ordinary people. The view holding that normal procre-
ation and birth are impure betrays a body image that contrasts sharply with
that of the Upani~ads, which celebrate copulation as analogous to religious
sacrifice.
Seven days after giving birth,. Maya died. Suddhodana married her sister,
Mahaprajapati, who brought up the young Bodhisattva. When he came of
age, he was married to a bride (named Yasodhara in most of the accounts)
whom his father had selected. In due course Yasodhara bore Siddhartha a son,
whom they named Rahula (Fetter), an indication that the young father's heart
was already turning away from the household life.