Siddhartha Gautama, also known as Gautama Buddha, was a spiritual leader and founder of Buddhism. He was born in ancient India in the 5th century BCE and is considered to be the enlightened or awakened one. Siddhartha Gautama rejected his privileged upbringing as a prince and embarked on a spiritual journey in search of the truth and liberation from suffering. After years of meditation and contemplation, he attained enlightenment under a Bodhi tree, and thus became the Buddha. The teachings of Siddhartha Gautama form the foundation of Buddhism, focusing on the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path as a means to attain enlightenment and attain liberation from the cycle of rebirth.
