BUDDHA

Founder of Buddhism; many chronological and biographical data are known about him with great approximation, although tradition has grafted many fantastic and edifying elements into it, creating around the figure of B. a legend which, for its poetic splendor and sublimity of images, is among the most great. Born around 560 BC. C. in Kapilavastu (in Nepalese territory near the Indian border), he belonged to the princely lineage of the Śākya, rulers of a small tributary territory of the king of Kośala.