Siddhartha

The priests, warriors, and rulers of ancient India lived well. They had good food and drink, soft beds to sleep in, beautiful clothes, and servants to do anything they asked. The traders and farmers of India weren’t quite as well off—but they also had food to eat, decent houses to live in, and enough money to take care of themselves and their families.

But the servants who belonged to the lowest caste of India worked hard for very little money. They had to do the jobs that the priests, warriors, rulers, traders, and farmers didn’t want to do. Servants didn’t have nice houses or clothes. They weren’t even allowed to learn how to read. And the Untouchables were even more miserable than the servants. Untouchables couldn’t even be friends with servants. They were only allowed to talk to each other. They spent their days doing dirty, disgusting jobs. And at the end of the day, they weren’t even paid enough money to eat properly or to buy warm clothes.

ong ago, a prince named Siddhartha lived in India. He didn’t know how miserable the servants and Untouchables were, because he was surrounded by beauty and luxury every moment of his life. His proud father, King Suddhodana, built three palaces for his son! He gave Siddhartha a thousand servants to wait on him hand and foot. He hired the best tutors to teach his son how to write poetry, play music, fence, and wrestle. At night, Siddhartha slept on rich, soft sheets, while musicians played beautiful music to lull him to sleep. In the morning, servants brought him his meals in bed, while poets read to him and other servants burned incense to make his room smell sweet and fragrant.

But in time, Siddhartha became curious about the world outside. “What is outside the palace walls?” he asked his father. “I want to go and see the city around me.”

“There’s nothing that you need to see out there,” his father answered.

But Siddhartha kept begging his father to let him go outside. Finally, Suddhodana agreed. But he told Siddhartha’s chariot driver to stay only in the streets near the palace. He ordered all of these streets swept, and the fronts of the buildings scrubbed and repainted. He drove all the sick and poor away, into other parts of the city. At last, he allowed his son to go out.

At first Siddhartha was delighted. “The city is as beautiful as my palace!” he exclaimed. “How wonderful it must be to live in this city! And how fortunate its people are!”

But as his chariot turned a corner, Siddhartha saw an old, old man, dragging himself along with the help of two sticks. “Who is that?” he asked his chariot driver. “What is wrong with him?”

“That is an old, poor man,” the chariot driver said. “He can barely see or walk, and the only food he is given is the food that he can beg from generous people passing by. Everyone will grow old and feeble in time. Even you, Siddhartha.”

Siddhartha had never before seen an old person. He was horrified. But he was even more distressed a few minutes later, when they passed a man sitting on the sidewalk, bent double in pain and pleading for help.

“What is wrong with that man?” he asked.

“He is sick,” the chariot driver said, “and no one will help him, because he is an Untouchable. Soon he will die.”

“What is death?” Siddhartha asked.

“Death is the end of life,” the chariot driver told him. “We will all die. Even you, Siddhartha!”

Siddhartha returned to his palace, struck with grief and misery. He had never known that people lived in pain and suffering, or that all men will die. The luxuries all around him seemed false and wrong. So he took off his fine clothes, put on the poor clothes of a beggar, and went out into the world.

For years and years, Siddhartha lived the life of a beggar. He spent his time trying to find out why people must grow old and sick, and finally die.

One day, Siddhartha was sitting beneath a wild fig tree, thinking about the mysteries of life. Suddenly, he exclaimed, “I understand! Everyone, no matter how poor, sick, or miserable, can find happiness by leading a good life!”

From then on, Siddhartha was known as the Buddha. He taught his followers that they should be honest, make peace with their enemies, and avoid violence. The followers of the Buddha became known as Buddhists. Soon, many people in ancient India were Buddhists. Today, Buddhism is followed by many, many people, both in India and in other countries around the world.

Note to Parent: The Aryan people probably came into India around 1500 BC/BCE; their civilization reached a high point around 500 BC/BCE, when sixteen separate kingdoms existed in the northern part of India. Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) lived around 563–483 BC/BCE.