Siddhartha's residence
was Ku[n.][d.]apura, the Basukund of to-day, a suburb of the wealthy town
of Vai['s]ali, the modern Besarh, in Videha or Tirhut. [Footnote: Dr.
Buehler by a slip had here "Magadha oder Bihar".--J. B.] Siddhartha was
son-in-law to the king of Vai['s]ali. Thirty years, it seems, Vardhamana
led a worldly life in his parents' house. He married, and his wife
Ya['s]oda bore him a daughter Anojja, who was married to a noble of the
name of Jamali, and in her turn had a daughter. In his thirty-first year
his parents died. As they were followers of Par['s]va the twenty-third
Jina, they chose, according to the custom of the Jainas, the death of the
wise by starvation. Immediately after this Vardhamana determined to
renounce the world. He got permission to take this step from his elder
brother Nandivardhana, and the ruler of his land divided his possessions
and became a homeless ascetic. He wandered more than twelve years, only
resting during the rainy season, in the lands of the La[d.]ha, in
Vajjabhumi and Subbhabhumi, the Rarh of to-day in Bengal, and learned to
bear with equanimity great hardships and cruel ill treatment at the hands
of the inhabitants of those districts. Besides these he imposed upon
himself the severest mortifications; after the first year he discarded
clothes and devoted himself to the deepest meditation.
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