Siddhartha Guatama was born into the house of a wealthy king or feudal baron of the Sakya clan in what is now Nepal. Siddhartha's father sheltered him from the harsh realities of the world by surrounding him with only pleasant things.
Siddhartha did not know of human suffering, sickness, advanced age or death until he chanced upon a man suffering from old age. He soon learned of human disease and of death.
These things stayed in his mind and he began to think of them as being inescapable. He gave up on his normal life of distractions and went on a personal search for the life where age and death would not matter. Siddhartha Guatama searched the greatest Hindu masters for wisdom in his search for enlightenment.
He learned from them all he could but did not find the answer he was searching for.
His next step was to join a group of ascetics, to open his mind by sacrificing his body, but that did not work either. He suffered more than his ascetic brothers and almost died as the result of it. This caused him to try another route to his goal of enlightenment, by way of strict thought and concentration.
He sat down under a peepul tree (later known as the Bo tree) and with intense concentration and will power he was able to reach total enlightenment and become the Buddha. The teachings of the Buddha reached thousands in his native India.
Siddhartha Guatama was born as a ruler and became the Buddha which made him a priest, he also lived impoverished and begged for food. As an acquaintance of all three castes and able to be comfortable among them all he was able to give his message to a wide variety of people.
 The birth of the Buddha:
He was born a prince circa 563 BCE in Lumbini in the Terai lowlands near the foothills of the Himalayas. At the time, this was part of northern India. It is now part of Nepal, a small country located between India and Tibet. He was a member of the Sãkyas clan. His father, Suddhodana, was king of the clan. His mother was named Maya.
In common with many other great religious leaders, many miraculous stories were associated with his birth. He emerged from his mother's side without causing her any pain. The earth shook. As a newborn, he was miraculously showered with water. He stood up, took seven steps, announced that he would be the "chief of the world." He also stated that this would be his last reincarnation.
He was given the name Siddhãrtha Gautama. Siddhãrtha means "one who has achieved his aim." Gautama was his clan name. He was sometimes referred to as Sãkyamuni which means "the sage of the Sãkyas."
He may have been born into the second of the four Indian castes -- the aristocratic warrior caste called Ksatriyas. His father was an Indian ruler.
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