Ashvaghosha is an Indian Buddhist patriarch, poet, and playwright, regarded as one of the initiators in the formation of the Buddhist Sarvastivada school. It is assumed that he lived in the second half of the 1st century CE and the first half of the 2nd century CE. The poem is composed of verse-songs and tells the story of the Buddha's life, tracing his path in sequence — from his first steps in the search for truth to the attainment of enlightenment.