strange adventures. These had been collected in a book called
the Veda. The language of this book was called Sanskrit, and it was
closely related to the different languages of the European continent, to
Greek and Latin and Russian and German and two-score others. The three
highest castes were allowed to read these holy scriptures. The Pariah,
however, the despised member of the lowest caste, was not permitted to
know its contents. Woe to the man of noble or priestly caste who should
teach a Pariah to study the sacred volume!

The majority of the Indian people, therefore, lived in misery. Since
this planet offered them very little joy, salvation from suffering
must be found elsewhere. They tried to derive a little consolation from
meditation upon the bliss of their future existence.

Brahma, the all-creator who was regarded by the Indian people as the
supreme ruler of life and death, was worshipped as the highest ideal of
perfection. To become like Brahma, to lose all desires for riches and
power, was recognised as the most exalted purpose of existence. Holy
thoughts were regarded as more important than holy deeds, and many
people went into the desert and lived upon the leaves of trees and
starved their bodies that they might feed their souls with the glorious
contemplation of the splendours of Brahma, the Wise, the Good and the
Merciful.

Siddhartha, who had often observed these solitary wanderers who were
seeking the truth far away from the turmoil of the cities and the
villages, decided to follow their example. He cut his hair. He took his
pearls and his rubies and sent them back to his family with a message
of farewell, which the ever faithful Channa carried. Without a single
follower, the young prince then moved into the wilderness.

Soon the fame of his holy conduct spread among the mountains. Five young
men came to him and asked that they might be allowed to listen to his
words of wisdom. He agreed to be their master if they would follow him.
They consented, and he took them into the hills and for six years
he taught them all he knew amidst the lonely peaks of the Vindhya
Mountains. But at the end of this period of study, he felt that he was
still far from perfection. The world that he had left continued to
tempt him. He now asked that his pupils leave him and then he fasted for
forty-nine days and nights, sitting upon the roots of an old tree. At
last he received his reward. In the dusk of the fiftieth evening