Budhha was a son of a Hindu King. Despite the contemporary belief that Buddha had never seen old age people, death and other things that; once he saw led him to ponder about life is not very well argued. Buddha was a son of a good hindu king; he must have been exposed to spiritualism under hinduism or vedanta. Kings in those days surrounded themselves with Yogis for both spiritual and their powers. Actually it was a source of political power ; like modern day ; catholic priests of vatican. Actually he might have attained nirvana as mentioned in vedanta which is considered to be the spiritual science of hinduism ( which has been forgotton by current generations). It was his follower who called him buddha not himself. Just to add ; Buddhism became so popular and was so diverted from hinduism, Aadi Sankara charya destroyed much of the the texts of buddhism. n.b ; Buddha is derived from " Bodhi Satva" a chinese spiritual monk. Bodhi Satva is well recognized for the sacrificing nirvana in order to preach and preserve the knowledge for upcoming generations.