Apart from these numerous schools of different strands of thought and practice in Hinduism, there were two major religions, Buddhism and Jainism, which emerged around the same time, and in some manner posed a challenge to the entire spectrum of Hindu philosophy.
Buddha was born in Lumbini in around the sixth century BCE in the royal kingdom of Kapilavastu, and lived to the age of eighty. As a young prince he was deeply influenced by the human suffering he saw around him. This suffering, he was convinced, was inevitable in a life that was both transient and unfulfilling, and meaningless beyond the superficial cycle of happiness followed by sorrow, joy followed by grief. He decided then to renounce life and search for the truth that would lead to nirvana or liberation from the cycle of birth and death.
Buddha’s enduring concern was with dukkha or suffering inherent in incarnate life. On receiving enlightenment while meditating under the Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, he…