by being easily the first at all the trials of
skill and prowess, thus winning the good opinions of all the clansmen.
This is the solitary record of his youth.

Nothing more is heard of him until, in his twenty-ninth year, Gautama
suddenly abandoned his home to devote himself entirely to the study of
religion and philosophy. It is said that an angel appeared to him in
four visions: a man broken down by age, a sick man, a decaying corpse,
and lastly, a dignified hermit. Each time Channa, his charioteer, told
him that decay and death were the fate of all living beings. The
charioteer also explained to him the character and aims of the ascetics,
exemplified by the hermit.

Thoughts of the calm life of the hermit strongly stirred him. One day,
the occasion of the last vision, as he was entering his chariot to
return home, news was brought to him that his wife Yasodhara had given
birth to a son, his only child, who was called Rahula. This was about
ten years after his marriage. The idea that this new tie might become
too strong for him to break seems to have been the immediate cause of
his flight. He returned home thoughtful and sad.

But the people of Kapilavastu were greatly delighted at the birth of
the young heir, their rajah's only grandson. Gautama's return became
an ovation, and he entered the town amid a general celebration of the
happy event. Amid the singers was a young girl, his cousin, whose song
contained the words, "Happy the father, happy the mother, happy the
wife of such a son and husband." In the word "Happy" there was a double
meaning: it meant also "freed" from the chains of sin and of existence,
saved. In gratitude to one who at such a time reminded him of his higher
duties, Gautama took off his necklace of pearls and sent it to her. She
imagined that she had won the love of young Siddhartha, but he took no
further notice of her.

That night the dancing girls came, but he paid them no attention, and
gradually fell into an uneasy slumber. At midnight he awoke, and sent
Channa for his horse. While waiting for the steed Gautama gently opened
the door of the room where Yasodhara was sleeping, surrounded by
flowers, with one hand on the head of her child. After one loving, fond
glance he tore himself away. Accompanied only by Channa he left his home
and wealth and power, his wife and only child behind him, to become a
penniless wanderer. This was the Great Renunciation.

There follows a story of a visio