The Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama)

Note: Krishna's life was analyzed accordingly to Raglan's Hero Pattern by Loren Petrich (petrich@panix.com) is published here with her permission.

2. His father Suddhodhana had been a king, or at least a noble.

4. When he was conceived, his mother Maya dreamed that a white elephant had entered her body through her side.

5. He was an enlightened being on his last reincarnation before achieving Nirvana.

6. Suddhodhana tries to keep him from his future career by spoiling him instead of by trying to kill him.

7. He suffers that spoilage through his childhood.

8. Maya dies and he is raised by her sister Mahaprajaprati.

9. Little is known about his life with Mahaprajaprati.

10. He sees an old man, a monk, a sick man, and a dead man, and deserts his wife and son in search of enlightenment.

11. He goes on a long quest, mortifying the flesh, and experiencing Mara the Tempter trying to lead him astray, until he achieves enlightenment under a Bodhi tree.

12. He decides to spread the word about what he has learned.

14. and reigns successfully for a period of time.

15. He issues his teachings, which contain laws of a sort.

18. He eats a meal of poisoned pork, an oddity because Buddhism has the ideal of vegetarianism.

20. His son does not succeed him.

21. His body is not buried. He was cremated and has no tomb.

Score: 15