In historical times, there was no such thing as a Nepal(where the Buddha was born), it was part of Northern India...As an orthodox Buddhist from the Theravada tradition, I have read and studied many ancient Pali scriptures and some of the scriptures has many interesting information about the historical Buddha.

The Pali scriptures says the historical Buddha wore a turban. Is wearing a turban a common Punjabi style of dressing?

Also, the Pali scriptures says the Buddha had blue eyes. Having seen some Indians with green eyes and blue eyes from the Kashmir region, makes me wonder if some Punjabi Indians share the same phenotype of the historical Buddha.

What do you guys think?

Siddharta Gautam was a prince from Lumbini which is a kingdom now found in Nepal. I can almost guarentee he wasn't Punjabi.

Also, turbans aren't confined to only Punjabis. Its a headress that is as common in India as a baseball cap is in America.

There was no such thing as a Nepal back then.

I think what he's saying is that Buddha was born Lumbini, which is now located in Nepal.

Light eyes can be found anywhere in India, even in the south. Having blue eyes doesn't mean that you must come from a certain region.

South Indian girl with light eyes




The turban is also very common in Rajasthan.

That's extremely unlikely. Do you have any sources to support a Punjabi origin?

buddha was a bihari!

I just read from the scriptures which is the Pali scriptures of Theravada Buddhism and it says the Buddha wore a Turban. So I'm wondering if wearing a Turban is synonymous with Punjabis.

Turbans are worn throughout Southern & Western Asia. It's not exclusive to Punjabis.

Yeah I know. But when I think of Turbans, I automatically think of the Punjabi Indians.

Here is a picture of the Buddha when he was still prince Siddhartha. He's not wearing a turban in this picture, but Chanda, the Buddha's Charioteer is wearing one, though.

I've never seen a Hindu or Muslim Punjabi wear a turban. Sikh Punjabis are the ones that are known for it.

EDIT

Sardars wear it to keep their hair neat.

Hindus in Punjab wear it during weddings and other such occasions.

dem don't like Indians to me, lol. Tan crayons can go a long way.

Everyone knows Buddha was a Tamil from Sri Lanka

My brother wore one at his wedding in Gujarat

Maybe not South Indians, but more like those light-skined Indian celebrities.

wtf are you talking about? N. Indians have an olive/light brown complexion.

I'm talking about Indian celebrities. They do not look like the majority of South Indians. I don't think Hrithik Roshan looks like your average South Indian.

How did talk of South Indians come into this? Buddha lived up north. The fact remains that the person who drew that cartoon probably never seen someone from India.

The dude is Indian. Have you seen any of Amar Chitra Kathan books on the glorious history of India?



What about these dancing girls, are they Indian enough?

P.S. I was making a comparision that the people from South India tend to look different from people from North India.

What jiggy might have meant is that a majority of North Indians have a light brown complexion, not a white-yellow complexion like so many Indian celebs.

I think the whitish/yellowish complextion comes from excessive lighting.......

Those dancing girls look very Indian to me, but they could also pass for certain South Indian ethnicities.

all those girls are actually supposed to be south indian. Look at their clothing, distinctly south indian! I am not sure which linguistic group it is, but if u look the women's dresses, it is actually one of the tradiciation dances clothes.. Not sure which one those are... Bharatanatyam, kuchipudi or something

Yeah you're right ... I didn't even notice.

K. I was right! All those girls are supposed to be south indian!(even though it doesn't matter)

Anyway, all those girls are doing Kuchipudi. Which is a traditional Indian Dance. Kuchipudi is done in Andhra Pradesh (AP) to be more preicse!

A kuchipudi dance example. Notice the similarities!


Also, Plz don't argue with me on that its not kuchipudi, All indian ethnicities have very distinct clothing, that is bona fide kuchipudi clothing.

I was about to say that look like the bharatnatyam dress......F*ck..I can't even tell the difference.

Difference in what?



aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Bharatanatyam also looks similar. Now this messes up things

Here is a bharathanatyam dance image



Regardless, bharathanathyam or kuchipudi, the clothing is south indian.

What was the purpose of this topic again?

Huge difference in coloration, these people are actually light brown. In the first pic they are pinkish. No one with pinkish skin would last long living in India without sunblock.

I don't know..I assumed you were saying kuchipudi clothing is different from bharatnatyam?

Naah, it was me just babbling nonsense. Once i saw bharathanatyam clothing, i had to shut my mouth up!

Did i mention, that i actually went to those bharatanatyam classes! One of the gurus saw me imitating bharathanatyam and was impressed and wanted me to learn it . After a couple of sessions, he told me I should master it and would take 12 years. 12 FRIGGIN YEARS FOR A DAMN DANCE, I got out that day itself!

I rarely see guys in America doing bharatnatyam. It's a girl thing here.

I took it for 7 months, but it hurt my thights like hell. You got to literally form a triangle shape with your legs and be bent the whole time. My teacher was kind of mean too! She told me teachers in India will hit you with a stick if you don't remain in the proper position.

I've actually seen a woman herding her kids with this flimsy whip like stick back in India. My dad joked "see if you don't listen to us I'll get one too!"

well, i was in 4th grade or something, and this guru was some renouned bharathanatyam guru. He told me that the only problem was that i was too old, and i thought I am in 4th grade, how can that be old? those dance gurus are all retarded if u ask me!

When you're 5 or 6, your body is more flexible to do the triangle pose. Once you get older, it becomes harder and it takes a LOT of stamina to stamp your feet.

I was 17 when I took the class, and it was very difficult for me.

bharathanathyam is so sexy..I swear any indian women who does that could get a guy going so quick...whew..heh

No way. The Buddha was a fat chinese guy with a beer belly.

Jiggy, those images of the Buddha are from different books on Buddhism, that's why you have different looks of the Buddha. Those guys in the pictures wearing the turban look Punjabi Sikh to me. Also, the Buddha according the Pali scriptures is described as being a very big person(over 6ft tall). The Pali scriptures are the oldest Buddhist scriptures...

I think buddha wasnt punjabi he look more nepali

They were joking!

There was no such thing as a Nepal back then...

LOL..so just by those characteristics, you're figuring that he must Sikh Punjabi? Where do you live and what nationality are you?

It's not just Sikh Punjabis who can look like that. I know Buddha was a Kshatriya, but I doubt he was Punjabi.

One of the tallest Indian actresses is 5'11, and she's Bengali. W.Bengal is in the Eastern part of India.

LOL. Read the back. I'm from Southern Cali, the home of palm trees, bad traffics, and bunch of conceited hos.

Anyway, If the Buddha wasn't a Punjabi, then what group do you think he belong to? I'm just starting to look into Indian history/culture/people, so my knowledge is quite limited. I know the Buddha was from Northern India(present day Nepal).

The following information...

"The country where the Buddha lived was situated around the Indian-Nepalese border. 2500 years ago that country was called Magadha. Shown here is the approximate extent of Magadha in 500 BCE:"



What state is Magadha now?

I don't really know what group he belonged to, and I don't think it matters. I know he was Kshatriya for now...


Plus, those pictures could be imaginary depictions. Do we know for sure that is what he really looked like?

You're right. It doesn't really matter. But just for curiousity sake...that's all.