Rahula

Rahula Relic Rahula (534 BC-?) is generally accepted to be the name of the son of Shakyamuni Buddha. According to the scriptures Rahula was first ordained as a novice as a young boy, without his mother's knowledge. The distress that this caused Rahula's mother prompted the Buddha to rule that no young man or woman would be ordained without the knowledge and consent of their parents. This set a precedent as to the youngest age a person could receive ordination along with the child having to have a parent's permission for ordination.

The name in English, roughly translated, is 'chain' or 'chained one', an interesting philosophical contrast to Buddha, 'the awakened one.' It can also be translated as 'obstacle'. Siddhartha Gautama named his son Rahula at birth, recognising the child as a tie that bound him to his wife Yashodhara and the comforts of the life of a householder. In the Dhammapada, the pleasure and joy that a man takes in his wife and children is called a 'soft fetter' that ties individuals to the life of suffering - possibly a reference to Siddhartha's own son.

Although Rahula was part of the family that Shakyamuni Buddha abandoned when he began his life as a monk, Rahula, according to several buddhist sutras, eventually came to be a part of his father's new-founded religious order. He is seen in several anecdotes about Gautama, and he is exclusively portrayed as a student. Rahula became one among the many arhats after following the Buddha's teachings. This means that he reached nirvana.

These relics were offered by a student in Malaysia, April 2005. They came from the Miektila Museum in Burma.