The Light of Asia. Or, The great renunciation (Mahâbhinishkramana), being the life and teaching of Gautama, prince of India and founder of Buddhism (as told in verse by an Indian Buddhist)

A scholar of Europe as well as the Orient, Sir Edwin Arnold began a teaching career in England after graduating from Oxford, and soon took a position as principal of a school in India. Here, he learned Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, and Turkish, and acquired the knowledge which enabled him to write The Light of Asia, or The Great Renunciation, a book of verses on the Buddha's life and teachings. Although controversial among scholars, the book won tremendous commercial success. Arnold was regarded by many as a poet only of Oriental culture until he published a similar work on Christ, The Light of the World, or The Great Consummation.