Buddhism, which to-day is the religion of three hundred million people, about one-fifth of the world’s inhabitants, toward the seventh or eighth century of our era almost entirely disappeared from its birthplace, India, whence it had spread over the rest of Asia, China, Russian Tartary, Burmah, etc.  Only the two extreme frontiers of India, Nepal, in the north, and Ceylon, in the south, now practise the Buddhist cult.

          Gautama Buddha left behind him no written works.  The Buddhists
     believe that he composed works which his immediate disciples
     learned by heart, and which were committed to writing long
     afterward.  This is not impossible, as the Vedas[37] were handed
     down in this manner for many hundreds of years.

[Footnote 37:  Vedas:  The sacred books of the Hindus, in Sanscrit; probably written about six or seven centuries before Christ. Veda means knowledge.  The books comprise hymns, prayers, and liturgical forms.]

     There was certainly an historical basis for the Buddhist legend.  In
     fact, the legends group themselves round a number of very distinct
     occurrences.

At the end of the sixth century B.C. those Aryan tribes sprung from the same stem as our own ancestors, who have preserved for us in their Vedic songs so precious a relic of ancient thought and life, had pushed on beyond the five rivers of the Punjab, and were settled far down into the valley of the Ganges.  They had given up their nomadic habits, dwelling in villages and towns, their wealth being in land, produce, and cattle.

From democratic beginnings the whole nation had gradually become bound by an iron system of caste.  The country was split up into little sections, each governed by some petty despot, and harassed by internecine feuds.  Religion had become a debasing ritualism, with charms and incantations, fear of the influence of the stars, and belief in dreams and omens.  The idea of the existence of a soul was supplemented by the doctrine of transmigration.

The priests were well-meaning, ignorant, and possessed of a sincere belief in their own divinity.  The religious use of the Vedas and the right to sacrifice were strictly confined to the Brahmans.  There were travelling logicians, anchorites, ascetics, and solitary hermits.  Although the ranks of the priesthood were closed against intruders, still a man of lower caste might become a religious teacher and reformer.  Such were the conditions which welcomed Gautama Buddha.

One hundred miles northeast of Benares, at Kapilavastu, on the banks of the river Rohini, the modern Kohana, there lived about five hundred years before Christ a tribe called Sakyas.  The peaks of the mighty Himalayas could be seen in the distance.  The Sakyas frequently quarrelled with the Koliyans, a neighboring