King Sudhodanna and his court.

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King Suddhodana (Sanskrit: Śuddhodana) was the father of Siddhartha Gautama, later known as the Buddha.^[1] He was a leader of the Shakya people, who lived in northern India and southern Nepal. Suddhodana's father was Sihahanu. Suddhodana won a battle against his father, thus gaining permission to marry the two sisters of his cousin, Suprabuddha, of the Koliya clan. Suprabuddha in turn married Suddhodana's two sisters. Siddhartha, later Buddha, in turn married his cousin, Yasodhara, daughter of Suprabuddha and his father's sister. Suddhodana's consorts, Mayadevi and Mahaprajapati of Devadaha Kingdom located in southern Nepal and northern India on the bank of the river Anoma, were in turn Buddha's mother, and step-mother.^[2]

The sage Asita visited Siddhartha when he was just a baby, and was surprised when the infant prince placed his feet on top of the sage's head. After Asita examined the prince’s feet, he kneeled and paid homage to the infant. King Suddhodana copied his action and said, “Son, this is my first act of obeisance.”.^[2] Siddhartha later received his name from the Five Forest Brahmana, Kaundinya, Mahaanaama, Baspa, Asvajita, and Bharika, who later became Buddha's companions during his ascetic practices, and his first five followers after his enlightenment at Bodh Gaaya and his first sermon (Dharmacakraptavatana sutra - Turning of the Wheel of Law) at Sraavastii.

It was prophesied by the Five Forest Brahmana that Suddhodana’s son, Siddhartha, would become a great chakravartin or universal monarch. However, if he saw four signs—an old man, a sick man, a corpse and a monk—he would instead become a great sage. Kaundinya disagreed with the other four Brahmana and predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha. After hearing this, Suddhodana tried to keep Siddhartha shielded from the outside world so that he would never see the four signs, and become a powerful ruler instead. However, his plan did not succeed and Siddhartha became a sage, leaving luxurious palace life for a humble journey in the search of enlightenment.^{[citation needed]}

According to legend, Suddhodana lamented his son's departure and spent considerable effort attempting to locate him. Years later, after word of Siddhartha's enlightenment reached Suddhodana, he sent a messenger with 10,000 companions to invite Siddhartha back to the Shakya land. The Buddha proceeded to preach to the messenger and all 10,000 companions, who in turn decided to join the Sangha and never return. Suddhodana then sent a close friend of Siddhartha's, Kaludayi, to invite him to return. Kaludayi also chose to become a monk, but kept his word to invite the Buddha back to his homeland. The Buddha accepted his father's invitation and returned to visit his homeland. During this visit, he preached the Dharma,(Skrt.), Dhamma,(Pali) to Suddhodana.

Many years later, when the Buddha heard of Suddhodana's impending death, he once again returned to his homeland and preached further to Suddhodana at his deathbed. King Suddhodana attained Bodhisattva/Arhantship.

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Suddhodana

• Immediate Family Of The Buddha King Shuddhodana By Radhika Abeysekera on DharmaWeb.org
• Why was the Sakyan Republic Destroyed? by S. N. Goenka (The following is a translation and adaptation of a Hindi article by S. N. Goenka published by the Vipassana Research Institute in December 2003.)