Deities · Vaiṣṇava Avatāras / Śramaṇa traditions
Gautama Buddha
बुद्ध
Buddha
Born Siddhārtha Gautama of the Śākya clan, he renounced his kingdom in search of the end of suffering, attained bodhi under the pipal tree at Bodh Gayā, and taught the Middle Way — the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. In the Paurāṇic tradition, he is counted as the ninth avatāra of Viṣṇu, appearing to teach ahiṃsā and turn beings from ritual violence.
Quick facts
- Era
- c. 6th–5th century BCE
- vahana
- None (seated on lotus or grass)
- consort
- Yaśodharā (as prince Siddhārtha)
- Abode
- Bodh Gayā; later, Nirvāṇa
Attributes & symbols
Emblems most often depicted with Gautama Buddha. Hover for gloss · click to search.
Epithets
Names and titles by which Gautama Buddha is invoked across the śāstras.
Essays
Related essays
The Ten Descents — Daśāvatāra and the awakening of consciousness
Viṣṇu's ten avatāras read as a parallel to biological and social evolution — from Matsya the fish to Kalki the future rider — with the Vedāntic twist that the Lord *descends* (avatāra) so the soul (jīva) can *ascend* (pariṇāma).
Essay · Women in Dharma · Śramaṇa pathsBhikkhunīs and Tīrthaṅkaras — women's liberation in the Śramaṇa paths
Buddhism and Jainism argued at length over whether a woman's body could reach liberation at all — and then produced the world's oldest surviving literature by women, and a doctrinal case for a female Tīrthaṅkara.
Related lore
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