• Gautama or Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, was born in 567 BCE in Lumbini Garden near Kapilavastu
• His father was Suddhodhana of the Sakya clan and mother Mayadevi
• As his mother died at childbirth, he was brought up by his aunt Parajapati Gautami
• At the age of sixteen he married Yashodhara and gave birth to a son, Rahula

What turned him into an ascetic?

• The sight of an old man, a diseased man, a corpse and an ascetic turned him away from worldly life
• He left home at the age of 29 in search of Truth 

Enlightenment:

• Under a bodhi tree at Bodhgaya, he got enlightenment or nirvana, at the age of 35
• Since then he became known as the Buddha or the Enlightened One

First Sermon:

• He delivered his first sermon at Sarnath near Benares and for the next 45 years he led the life of a preacher 
• He died at the age of 80 at Kushinagar

Disciples:

• Sariputta, Moggallanna, Ananda, Kassapa and Upali
• Kings like Prasenjit of Kosala and Bimbisara and Ajatasatru of Magadha accepted his doctrines and became his disciples
• He visited places like visited places like Benares, Rajgriha, Sravasti, Vaishali, Nalanda and Pataligrama