TYPE: The Founder of Buddhism
ORIGIN: Buddhist [India]
KNOWN PERIOD OF WORSHIP: Circa 500 BCE to present day.
SYNONYMS: Guatama, Siddharta
CENTER(S) OF CULT: Pan-Asiatic.
ART REFERENCES: metal and stone sculptures, paintings, etc.
LITERARY SOURCES: Sadhanamala and Tantric ritual texts
BORN: Siddhartha Guatama c. 563 BCE or 480 BCE; Lumbini, Shakya Republic
DIED: c. 483 BCE or 400 BCE (aged 80); Kushinagar, Malla Republic
RESTING PLACE: Cremated ashes divided among followers
SPOUSE: Yashodhara
CHILDREN: Rahula
PARENTS: Suddhodana (father); Maya Devi (mother)
INFORMATION: The deity is regarded as having been a historical figure born at Kapilavastu near Gorakhpur. He died at Kusinagara circa 486 BCE. His father was Suddhodana of the Sakya clan, his mother was Maya and his wife Yasodhara.
Buddha is, in certain respects, the equal of the Hindu god Visnu. He is generally depicted with shaven or cropped head and may be crowned. The hair may be tightly curled. His color attribute is gold.
BY tradition, he preached his first sermon at Mrgadava in Sarnath near Varanasi where, after a visit in 1956 by the Dalai Lama, an enclosure of gazelles was erected.