Traditional biographies of Buddha

The primary sources for the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are in a variety of different and sometimes conflicting traditional biographies. These include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sutra, Mahavastu. Of these, the Buddhacarita is the earliest full biography, an epic poem written by the poet Asvaghosa and dating around the beginning of the 2nd century CE. The Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahayana/ Sarvastivada biography dating to the 3rd century CE. The Mahāvastu from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda sect is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE. Lastly, the Nidānakathā is from the Theravāda sect in Sri Lanka, composed in the 5th century CE by Buddhaghoṣa. From canonical sources, the Jātaka tales, Mahāpadāna Sutta (DN 14), and the Acchariyaabbhuta Sutta (MN 123) include selective accounts that may be older, but are not full biographies. It shows only the tradition. The Jātaka tales retell previous lives of Gautama as a bodhisattva, and the first collection of these can be dated among the earliest Buddhist texts. The Mahāpadāna Sutta and Acchariyaabbhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from Tuṣita Heaven into his mother's womb.