The three most significant events in the life of Gautama Buddha occurred on the same day. His birth, enlightenment and death (nirvana), all happened on a full moon night in April/May. This makes the day - called Buddha Purnima or Buddha Jayanti - all the more sacred for Buddhists.

The Buddha was born Siddhartha Gautama in 544 BC, to King Shuddhodhana and Queen Mayadevi, rulers of Lumbini, Nepal. According to legend, Siddhartha's wife Yashodhara, his charioteer Channa, his disciple Ananda and his horse Kantaka were also born on Buddha Purnima day.

Siddhartha led a cocooned life initially, since his father dreaded that predictions of Siddhartha becoming a hermit would turn out true.

But, one day, Siddhartha had a glimpse of disease, death, loneliness and poverty. That was enough to take him down the path his father had dreaded. He could not find the answers to why these happened to people. When he was 29, he abandoned everything and left to find the true meaning of life.

He meditated under a peepal tree for six years, before he got enlightenment. Siddhartha then became Buddha - the enlightened. For the next 32 years Buddha professed his dharma - Buddhism. In 483 BC, on the same day that he was born, and the day he was enlightened, Buddha attained nirvana.