Gautama Buddha Courtesy: S. Sankaran.
PREFACE: Last meal of Buddha at the age of 80 was supplied by Cunda, a blacksmith and Buddha fell ill immediately and attained Nirvana. For many more such details, please read the article. Buddha Purnima was celebrated on the 19 th May 2008 and some facts about Buddha are furnished hereunder as a tribute. v Gautama Buddha was the only son to Suddhodana, the King of Kapilavastu in Magadha and Queen Maya. v His mother gave birth on her way to her father’s kingdom at Lumbini, a town in modern Nepal, in a garden beneath a sal tree and she died thereafter. He was born more than 200 years before the reign of Maurya King Asoka – 273-232 BCE. The infant was given the name Siddhartha meaning ‘he who achieves his aim.’ His birth on the full moon of May to the clan of the Shakyas, a warrior tribe, is widely celebrated in Buddhist countries as Vesak. Before Siddartha Gautama’s birth, his mother dreamed of a white elephant presenting her with a lotus flower. Royal...