Two hundred years ago, people in India did not remember Buddha or the Chola kings of Tamil Nadu or even Ashoka. Even today, our understanding is strongly shaped by colonialism and nationalism. For example, no one tells us that Ashoka visited sites linked to TWO Buddhas, not just the one! 

There was Lumbini, site of Gautama Buddha’s birth. But there was also Nigali, in Nepal, site linked to Konakamana Buddha, who existed before Gautama Buddha Two, not one, Buddhas. It is clear in the Ashokan edict, but no one seems to know about this other Buddha. Our textbooks, our historians, do not talk about it. We are told of “historical” Buddha who is actually the “popular” Buddha of Theravada Buddhism, whose Pali canon, was first translated by the British. 

There is nothing historical about Gautama Buddha. The story of his birth, renunciation, sermon and death follows the same repetitive pattern attributed to each and every Buddha before him -- similar to repetitive patterns of Jain Tirthankara. There was even talk of a future Buddha, Maitreya.