Buddhacarita – This work gives a faithful description about the life of Buddha from the time of his birth until his death. Prior to getting Jñāna or wisdom, Buddha was known as Sarvārthasiddha. He was from a place called Kapilavastu in North India and his tribe was known as Śākya-s and thus he is also known as Śākyamuni, Śākyasimha etc. Sarvārthasiddha father was Śuddhodana and his mother was Mayādevī and hence in Amarakoṣaḥ it is said māyādīvīsutaśca saḥ । śauddhodaniḥ which means Mayādevī’s son. According to Aśvaghoṣa’s story that even before Budhdha’s birth it was well known that he was going to be a great person and there was a shower of flowers when he was born with the beating of drums and all the Devas like Indras came secretly and saw the child that was born. King Śuddhodana enquired about the future of his child to his teacher Asita and he was told that his son would either become a great teacher or a great King. Though King Śuddhodana wanted his son to be a King, the wish of God was very different from King’s wish. Intentionally, Sarvārthasiddha was brought up without being exposed to any sorrow like sickness, death etc. And when he became a youth his father arranged his marraige with a beautiful girl called Yaśodharā. And thus all through his young age Sarvārthasiddha lived a very happy life indulging in all pleasures and there was absolutely no dearth of anything. His wife gave birth to a son whom they named Rāhul and this way the prince’s life progressed exactly as per the wishes of his father. However, as he was born for a special purpose and was destined to be a great teacher of the whole world, he eventually got exposed all the miseries of human life to old age, sickness etc. and decides to leave the Kingdom, his father, his wife and his son determined to find a solution for all the problems and sorrows in this world. And therefore, at night he leaves the palace after mounting a horse brought by his servant and his servant also followed him. After travelling a bit, Sarvārthasiddha dismounted the horse and asked his servant to return to the Kingdom. Though the servant tried to convince him to return Sarvārthasiddha refused and continued his journey. During the course of his journey, he met many people and teachers who tried to teach him various philosophies like Sāṅkhya etc. None of them were satisfactory to the prince and in the meanwhile his father sent a minister to him and asked him to return and advised him about the various responsibilities upon him as a Prince, husband, son and a father and asked him to seek the knowledge that he was aspiring for upon completion of his responsibilities. The prince sent them back saying that his time on earth was so limited and that there was no guarantee that he would live long to get the knowledge that he was seeking. And then he went on to do serious penance in order to get the knowledge that he sought and during his penance a demon called Mara tried to dissuade him from this path of penance but was not successful. And finally, after seven years of severe penance he got the flash of knowledge and understood the secrets of world. It was a very significant day and was a full moon day. Incidentally, he was also born on the full moon day of the Vaiśākha month and Mahānirvāṇa, the day he left the world after 80 years was also Vaiśākha Śuddha Pūrṇimā. He delivered his first sermon or teaching called Dharmacakraprāvartana (Turning the wheels as per the law of the world) and this was done after consuming the pāyasam (a sweet dish) brought by a woman. And with his first teaching it was indeed very clear that this Sidhārtha/ Sarvārthasiddha had attained the light of knowledge and everyone were so impressed with his words and became his disciples. Saundarānanda – The book got the name from the hero of this book called Saundarānanda. It is also said that this book is named so because the name of the hero was Nanda and his wife’s name was Sundarī. Nanda was the half-brother of Sarvārthasiddha/ Buddha. Nanda was an enamored husband who wanted to be in the company of his wife Sundarī at all times. Sundarī, true to her name was an extremely beautiful woman. Relentlessly, Buddha tried to teach Nanda the principle of Vairāgya or renunciation. Nanda did not want to leave his wife at all and after several efforts by Buddha, once on an invitation from him, Nanda goes out with him. He was shown on a female monkey on a tree and was asked how the female monkey was in comparison with his wife. Nanda became furious at this comparison and asked Buddha how he could compare his beautiful wife with a monkey that had lost an eye and was also limping. To this Buddha replied that he would take his brother to upper worlds like heaven. Nanda was taken to the upper world and was shown Dēvatās, their wives, nymphs, beautiful dancers etc. Nanda was drowned in their beauty and wanted to remain in that world and enjoy their beauty. However, Buddha replied that for him to remain in that world, Nanda must do some serious penance under his directions. Nanda started doing penance under Buddha’s directions and understood that nothing is permanent in this world including beauty. He understood that his mission should only be for the highest truth and therefore gave up everything and joined the order. And the order and dharma being, buddhaṃ śaraṇaṃ gacchāmi । dharmaṃ śaraṇaṃ gacchāmi । saṅghaṃ śaraṇaṃ gacchāmi । And thus, Saundarānanda was converted to the path of Dharma.