we possess, that he belonged to a fighting aristocracy, active in war and debate, wealthy according to the standard of the times and yielding imperfect obedience to the authority of kings and priests.  The Pitakas allude several times to the pride of the Sakyas, and in spite of the gentleness and courtesy of the Buddha this family trait is often apparent in his attitude, in the independence of his views, his calm disregard of Brahmanic pretensions and the authority that marks his utterances.

The territory of the Sakyas lay about the frontier which now divides Nepal from the United Provinces, between the upper Rapti and the Gandak rivers, a hundred miles or so to the north of Benares.  The capital was called Kapilavatthu[301], and the mention of several other towns in the oldest texts indicates that the country was populous.  Its wealth was derived chiefly from rice-fields and cattle.  The uncultivated parts were covered with forest and often infested by robbers.  The spot where the Buddha was born was known as the Lumbini Park and the site, or at least what was supposed to be the site in Asoka’s time, is marked by a pillar erected by that monarch at a place now called Rummindei[302].  His mother was named Maya and was also of the Sakya clan.  Tradition states that she died seven days after his birth and that he was brought up by her sister, Mahaprajapati, who was also a wife of Suddhodana.  The names of other relatives are preserved, but otherwise the older documents tell us nothing of his childhood and the copious legends of the later church seem to be poetical embellishments.  The Sutta-Nipata contains the story of an aged seer named Asita who came to see the child and, much like Simeon, prophesied his future greatness but wept that he himself must die before hearing the new gospel.

The personal name of the Buddha was Siddhartha in Sanskrit or Siddhattha in Pali, meaning he who has achieved his object, but it is rarely used.  Persons who are introduced in the Pitakas as addressing him directly either employ a title or call him Gotama (Sanskrit Gautama).  This was the name of his gotra or gens and roughly corresponds to a surname, being less comprehensive than the clan name Sakya.  The name Gotama is applied in the Pitakas to other Sakyas such as the Buddha’s father and his cousin Ananda.  It is said to be still in use in India and has been borne by many distinguished Hindus.  But since it seemed somewhat irreverent to speak of the Buddha merely by his surname, it became the custom to describe him by titles.  The most celebrated of these is the word Buddha[303] itself, the awakened or wise one.  But in Pali works he is described just as frequently by the name of Bhagava or the Lord.  The titles of Sakya-Muni and Sakya-Simha have also passed into common use and the former is his usual designation in the Sanskrit sutras.  The word Tathagata, of somewhat obscure signification[304], is frequently found as an equivalent of Buddha and is put into the mouth of Gotama himself as a substitute for the first personal pronoun.