Buddhist traditions, Nivedita and Coomaraswamy
Great Departure of Siddhartha
The prince takes a last look at Yashodhara and the sleeping child before leaving the room. Divine beings confirm the resolution, and the departure passes through gates that open silently. Outside the city he sends Channa and the horse home with a message explaining the search for freedom from birth, death, sorrow and pain. He exchanges royal robes for a hunter’s rags.
Also known as Great Renunciation
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In the sources
Principal account
TraditionalThe prince takes a last look at Yashodhara and the sleeping child before leaving the room. Divine beings confirm the resolution, and the departure passes through gates that open silently.
Further detail
TraditionalOutside the city he sends Channa and the horse home with a message explaining the search for freedom from birth, death, sorrow and pain. He exchanges royal robes for a hunter’s rags.
Context & interpretation
The entry concerns the legendary departure episode in the collection. It presents the narrative’s costs and transformations without turning the prince’s abandonment of family into a general prescription for spiritual practice.
Original passages
Source 1
Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists
each opened silently of itselfOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists (1914), active reader leaf 320
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0109-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0109-E001-P0320
- Original scan leaf
- 320
- Recorded leaf number
- 320
- Current Reader position
- 311
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists
his royal robes in exchange for tattered ragsOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists (1914), active reader leaf 323
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0109-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0109-E001-P0323
- Original scan leaf
- 323
- Recorded leaf number
- 323
- Current Reader position
- 314
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Continue exploring
Channa
The charioteer who explains the prince’s first encounters with suffering and accompanies his departure.
Shared source pageKantaka
The prince’s horse, whose silent departure carries the seeker out of the guarded city.
Shared source pageYashodhara
Siddhartha’s wife, whose grief and fidelity form a counterpart to his departure.
Same subject and traditionFour Sights
The encounters with age, illness, death and a mendicant that unsettle the prince’s protected life.