why long did decide to siddharta water and why did decide to sit under the peepal tree
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Answer:
According to popular accounts, Siddhartha Gautama sat under the banyan (peepal) tree for just one night, before becoming Buddha . :)
He had, however, struggled for 6 years before that in various kinds of sadhanas, and had not succeeded. At one time during that period, he had become emaciated and realised that giving up food was of no use in progressing towards Truth . So he had begun taking food moderately by begging in the villages.
In a nearby village called Senani, a lady, by name Sujata, at the behest of villagers, had once worshiped a banyan tree in order to get a good husband. She did indeed get a good, wealthy husband and also a good son, and it was her belief that worshiping the banyan tree had brought her luck.
One day, her servant came excitedly and told her that the god of that banyan was meditating under it. Sujata was overjoyed and prepared a delicious payasa, brought in a bowl it and gave it to Siddhartha, whom the servant had taken for the tree-god. She heartily wished him luck in his efforts.
Siddhartha thanked her, had the payasa, and threw the bowl in the river, saying, “If I am to succeed, let this bowl go upstream, else, let it go downstream”. The bowl went upstream.
It was a full moon day. In the evening, he went to Gaya and sat under a banyan tree and resolved thus: “Even if my skin, nerves and bones melt away, even if all my blood goes dry, I shall not get up from here until I get the highest knowledge”.
In the first part of the night, his latent, hidden fears and desires began manifesting, though this is portrayed as the work of Mara, the Evil. “Your palace is on fire; your parents, wife and son are being burnt; how can you sit here so carelessly?; the citizens of your kingdom are screaming for help; you can go back and live a royal life filled with various kinds of pleasures…” and so on.
He did not shake or stir from his concentration. In the first part of the night, the knowledge of all his past lives dawned upon him; in the second part of the night, he learnt about the transience of the lives of beings and how they undergo recurring births; in the third part of the night, he realised the cause of suffering and the way out of it, and at a propitious moment, realised the Truth and became Samyaksambuddha (Perfectly Awakened/ Enlightened One).
He sat under the banyan tree for a week, lost in his own bliss of nirvana. For the whole of the next week he gazed at the banyan tree, out of gratitude for sheltering him, without even winking once.