He was a contemporary of Gautam Buddha, and also of Tirthankar Mahabir. He had been hearing many startling fables about them. He had heard that Gautam had abandoned his Royalty and  family in favor of asceticism . It had also become  popular talk that Gautam, the prince of Kapilavastu, had set out to find solution  to the miseries and sufferings of mankind .

Somadeva, a grown up youth, had gone all the way to meet the prince Gautam after he attained Nirvana.  He wanted to satisfy his curiosities, as he had his own doubts and reservations, about the much talked-about mission of the prince. After undergoing lot of pain and efforts he was able to gain an audience with Gautam Buddha.

 "O, honorable prince, is it true that you consider family life as an obstacle to moving on the path of spirituality ?"

 " Yes, it is so. How can a man advance with his  legs chained down with worldly bonds?"

 “May be so.  But will it not be an injustice  towards the family  especially with the wife who left her family  for  an unknown man  trusting  him beyond any iota of  doubt;  totally surrendered  herself to him and became totally committed  to  her husband.  On whom she should depend now? She has her  whole life, and  family also, before her."

 "Yes, I have full sympathy with the sufferer. But every person should  follow the path of Liberation from the cycle of birth and rebirth breaking away from all worldly bonds and attachments. If you have the  princess in mind while talking so then I have freed her too from bonds or obligations. There should therefore be nothing to complain about."

 "Honorable Sir, It may be a debatable point, but it is not my place to enter into any argument with such a learned soul. However, sir, I have another thing in mind. It is heard that you aim at the liberation of mankind, its salvation from miseries and sufferings. But it is a common belief that man suffers from miseries and hardships on account of ones bad deeds committed in the previous births or even in the present one. It means he is happy or miserable according to his destiny which has been shaped by his performance in his past and present births."

 "I am not yet prepared to comment on this aspect. I am yet to see the light, the Universal Truth."

 Somadeva found himself more confused after this dialogue with a prince who chose to be a  monk. He  thought that Gautam had been evasive in many of his replies. Somadeva came back to his town without getting any wiser. He concluded Buddha was yet to reach his goal but was certainly moving on a very difficult, if not uncertain, path of his own choosing. But nonetheless he appreciated the spirit behind his mission.

He did not hear any thing about Gautam for a long time after that.

 After some time he learnt Vardhamana, another prince was promoting Jainism, another religious philosophy that had so far been comparatively obscure to general public. Vardhamana had also abandoned the world for almost the same purpose as Gautam. Prior to attaining Kaivalya, omniscience, Vardhamana had been wandering from place to place in search of truth. Somadeva once had an accidental opportunity to talk with him when Vardhaman happened to be in that area.