Q1. Write about the life of Gautam Buddha. of class 6 NCERT book
Answers
Answer:
Infant life of our Gautama Buddha is full of mythical incidents. They may have been added to show the superiority of this Supreme human being, or there might be some truth to some of them since our Buddha had wished for Buddhahood for incalculable number of births and had collected immeasurable amount of merit at all those births.
This article contains all those incidents since they have been handed down to us for 2600 years and shows the magnitude of our Great Buddha’s mental power which is not a myth at all.
There was a state in Kosala desh in ancient India called Shakya, which belonged to the Shakya clan. The ruler of this state was King Suddhodhanawho ruled from the capital, Kapilawastu (now Western region of modern Nepal).
He married Princess Maya Devi who was the daughter of King Suprabuddhawho ruled the State of Devdaha in ancient India (Rupandehi district in Terai region of Nepal). Maya Devi was a very virtuous and talented princess apart from her great beauty.
King Suprabuddha was the ruler of the Koliya clan and was the uncle of KingSuddhodhana. Therefore, this matrimony was between two cousins.
King Suddhodhana ruled the state righteously and was loved & respected by all.
By this time, our great Buddha, as the ‘Gautama Bodhisatwa’, was waiting patiently in the Thusitha heaven till the time was proper for him to be born in the human world.
It was the 6th century BC. Since it was the right time for a Buddha to be born in the world, the gods invited him to do so.
Buddha: The Light of Asia
Queen Maya Devi dreamt of a white elephant
Before being born in the human world, a Bodhisathwahas to consider five major factors regarding his birth. They were, whether the time was right for him to be born as a human, which continent he should choose to be born as a human, which state he should choose to be born as a human, which cast he should choose to be born as a human and who he should choose as his mother.
After contemplating the above five factors carefully, our Gautama Bodhisathwa chose Queen Maya Devi as his mother. On an Esala Full moon day (Full moon day in July), our Gautama Bodhisathwa entered his mother’s womb.
As an indication of this great event, Queen Maya Devi dreamt of a white elephant carrying a white lotus flower circling her bed thrice and entering her stomach from the right side.
The wise-men (Brahmins) of the court confirmed that the dream was an indication of the birth of a great being to the royal couple.