Gautama Buddha, popularly known as the Buddha (also known as Siddhattha Gotama or Siddhārtha Gautama[note 3] or Buddha Shakyamuni), was a Śramaṇa who lived in ancient India (c. 5th to 4th century BCE).[5][6][7][note 4] He is regarded as the founder of the world religion of Buddhism, and revered by most Buddhist schools as a savior, [8] the Enlightened One who rediscovered an ancient path to release clinging and craving and escape the cycle of birth and rebirth. He taught for around 45 years and built a large following, both monastic and lay.[9] His teaching is based on his insight into the arising of duḥkha (the unsatisfactoriness of clinging to impermanent states and things) and the ending of dukkha--the state called Nibbāna or Nirvana (extinguishing of the three fires).
The Buddha was born into an aristocratic family in the Shakya clan but eventually renounced lay life. According to Buddhist tradition, after several years of mendicancy, meditation, and asceticism, he awakened to understand the mechanism which keeps people trapped in the cycle of rebirth. The Buddha then traveled throughout the Ganges plain teaching and building a religious community.