The Story of Gaútama Buddha and His Creed: An Epic

The main body of the poem is arranged in an introductory poetic frame followed by thirteen cantos. The opening establishes the Buddha as a nonviolent conqueror whose influence surpasses that of kings and warriors. Canto I recounts the birth of Gautama, the joy of King Suddhodana, the death of Māyā, and the child’s early life under royal protection. Canto II describes the king’s efforts to keep the prince away from ascetic thought and surround him with pleasure. Canto III introduces marriage and worldly beauty, while the following cantos develop Gautama’s confrontation with impermanence, suffering, renunciation, ascetic discipline, and the search for truth. The middle cantos trace his withdrawal from palace life, encounter with religious teachers, severe austerities, awakening, and beginning of his mission. Later cantos present his preaching, the growth of his community, his death, the veneration of relics, and the expansion of Buddhism under Aśoka. The final cantos broaden the poem into a reflective assessment of Buddhism’s moral power, its appeal to Asia, its contrast with Christianity, and the enduring significance of the Buddha as a compassionate teacher and founder of a vast religious tradition.