Buddha
Buddha South and Central AsiaGautama Siddartha (c. 563–479 BC), the North Indian prince who became the Buddha, ‘the Enlightened One,’ required his followers to isolate themselves from worldly life. The saffron robe worn by Buddhist monks was a badge which showed ordinary society that they had elected to leave its toils; the colour of this garment was the same as that used to dress condemned men on the day of execution. Being liable to rebirth because of the self, and knowing the sorrow of living, dukkha,‘ world weariness,’ they sought the unborn, the final escape from Karmic bondage— nirvana. What was demanded from the individual devotee was nothing less than the extinction of the ego, freedom from aversion and desire.
Although there are striking parallels in the stories of the lives of the Jaina saviour Parsva and the Buddha, connections possibly suggesting the continued existence of a pre-Aryan religious tradition,...
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