Therefore, he determined to begin nourishing his body again. When he announced his decision, the five ascetics renounced him and abandoned him. A local girl named Sujata saw the starving Siddartha and prepared a meal of special rice-milk and offered it to him in a golden bowl. He walked to the nearby town of Bodhgaya and sat down under a Bodhi tree. How long he meditated is not truly known.
Some commentaries say seven days, some as many as forty-nine days.
However long his meditation might have lasted he arose at last as the Buddha, the Enlightened One . So great an event later inspired wonderful legends. The most famous concerns the re-appearance of Mara, the Evil One, who came to the future Buddha as he sat under the Bodhi tree, and summoned all his forces to attack him. Storms, hot rocks, burning coals, sand and mud were all hurled at the Buddha but with no effect. Then Mara summoned his daughters Desire, Discontent, and Passion, but their efforts were in vain.