Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/347

Rh and power, his proud rank and his princely fame, the love of his young wife and of his sleeping babe, being determined to become a poor student and a homeless wanderer. He rode quietly out of the city, accompanied only by his faithful servant, named Channa, who asked to be allowed to stay with him and become an ascetic, but Gautama sent him back, and repaired alone to Rajagriha, which lay in a valley surrounded by five hills. Some Brahman ascetics lived in the caves of these hills, sufficiently far from the town for study and contemplation, and yet sufficiently near to obtain supplies. Gautama attached himself first to one and, then to another, and learnt from them all that Hindu philosophers had to teach.

Not content with this learning, he retired to the jungles of Uruvela, near the site of the present temple of Bodh Gaya, and for six years, attended by five disciples, he gave himself up to the severest penances and self-mortification. His fame spread far and wide, yet he did not obtain the emancipation that he sought, and, despairing of deriving any profit from penance, he abandoned it.

Deserted then by his disciples, Gautama wandered alone towards the banks of the Niranjara, received his morning meal from the hands of Sujata, the daughter of a villager, and sat himself down under the famous Bo-tree, or the tree of wisdom. Here he was tempted by Mara, the evil spirit, and many legends relate the circumstances and details of this successful struggle with temptation. Long he sat in contemplation, and