with each other and testing them in other
ways, before the real history can be regarded as made out beyond
question. The slight sketch of the story which we give does not aim
at such critical correctness; we merely indicate the outline of a
narrative which is one of the principal sources of the strength of
the religion.

The Story of the Founder.--The founder's family name was Gautama, and
by that name he was commonly known during his lifetime. The personal
name given him as a child was Siddartha. Those who wished after his
death to speak of him with reverence called him Sakya-Muni, the Sage
of the Sakyas. These were a tribe who dwelt, at the period of the
story, _i.e._ half a millennium before Christ, in the country to the
north of the sacred Ganges, a few days' journey from the city of
Benares. Gautama's father, Suddhodana, was rajah (chief) of the
Sakyas; his residence was Kapilavastu, near Oude. The future sage
thus belonged to the Kshatriya class, and was accustomed to a
position of rank and ease. We hear little of his youth; he had been
married ten years, and his wife, whom he loved, had just brought him
a son, when, at the age of twenty-nine, he suddenly and secretly left
his home to devote himself to the religious life. He was led to this
step by witnessing various painful sights which caused him vividly to
realise the suffering which accompanies all existence, and made him
scorn a life of luxury. It was a time when many were seeking a better
way, and when a superior mind naturally turned to that retirement and
absorption in which it was believed that the key to life's pains and
mysteries was to be found. In the "Great Renunciation," as this act
is called, there is nothing we cannot understand. This lofty act,
however, was followed by a temptation; Mara, the spirit of evil,
urged him, but urged him in vain, to give up the purpose he had
formed. He then attached himself to Brahmanic ascetics, from whom he
learned their philosophy; and after this he devoted himself for six
years to a life of fasting and penance, the Brahmanic method for
drawing nearer the goal of the religious life. After this period he
gave up his fasting, not having profited by it as he had expected,
and returned to an ordinary diet. This change cost him the adhesion
of five disciples who had become attached to him, and had been filled
with wonder at his mortifications. But the loss was a small one
compared with the gain which was at hand. Afte