Know story behind 108 dried snails on Gautama Buddha’s head

All of you must have known Gautam Buddha. Gautama Buddha is the one who started Buddhism. In today’s time, Buddhism is one of the oldest and most famous religion in the world. Today there are crores of followers of Buddhism who are engaged in propagating it. You will see thousands of millions of statues of Lord Buddha in the world which are very beautiful and attractive. There are many statues that have got a place even in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Site. Talking about Gautama Buddha, his statues are very attractive and the seen is the one of him meditating. All idols are unique in themselves. Well, all these statues have one thing in common and that is their curly hair seen in every statue of Gautama Buddha. But what if it is not what you see. Yes, they are curly hair but something more interesting. 

What is the secret of curly hair of Gautam Buddha: The curly hair that you see in every statue of Gautam Buddha is not really hair. Actually, the curly hair that seems to appear on the head of Gautama Buddha are a lot of snails. You must be surprised to hear this and might be wondering how this happens. So we are going to tell you about the secret behind it too.

How the snails came on the head of Gautama Buddha- It is said that once Gautama Buddha was engrossed in meditation. During that time he was sitting under the tree and doing meditation. While doing meditation, he became so absorbed in meditation that he did not know anything about the outside. Forgetting the outside world, he drowned in spiritual practice. At the time when Gautama Buddha was engaged in spiritual practice, the weather was hot and the sun was just above the head of Gautama Buddha. At that moment, a snail making its way along the ground noticed that the Buddha was meditating on that hot day. The temperature rising so high yet he was sitting under the tree, the sun rays were directed towards his head. Snail thought that the Buddha’s head was soon going to become a distraction and it would be hard for him to concentrate. After that, a snail thought ‘If I stay on the head of Gautam Buddha, then he will start feeling less of heat.’ Thinking that he stayed there. After seeing him, many snails climbed behind him on the head of Gautama Buddha. In this way, 108 snails sat on his head to save Gautama Buddha from heat and thus lost their life. It is said that these 108 snails gave their lives to bring enlightenment to Lord Buddha. These 108 snails are considered important for their important role.

Know about snails- They are flexible-bodied animals and contain moisture. Whenever they are caught, they feel cold. Keeping these things in mind, the snails sat on the head of Gautama Buddha to save him from the heat. Today, the curly hair-like figure on the head of the statues of Gautama Buddha is actually 108 snails.

There is another story too – Some people believe that when Gautama Buddha got absorbed in the practice, his hair grew. During that time when the fierce heat came, all the hairs of Gautama Buddha’s head got burnt and all became curly. By the way, you must be aware that even today there are many hot areas of the world where people’s hair gets curly. Taking this as the basis, today many people believe this story.

What is the truth- Which of these two stories is true, nothing can be said about it. Everyone has their own opinion.

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