Buddha
Amar Chitra Katha Comic Books Series
Hinduism, produced its share of free thinkers. Prince Siddhartha who became Gautama Buddha, was the most exceptional. The Hinduism that caught Siddharthas attention had lost much of its primal energy and purity. He refused to subscribe to the caste system, which had ceased to be Dharma and had instead become a tool for oppression. He would not accept the power drunk priests as sole agents of God. He questioned the authority of the Vedas. He was convinced that penance and meditation as mere rituals without sincerity and contemplation were futile.
So he set out alone to seek the ultimate truth. His search led him to enlightenment that liberated him as he pondered under a Bodhi tree. He returned to preach what he had experienced and did it with compassion - converting was never his aim.
Today, he has followers all over the world but the largest numbers are concentrated in the Far-Eastern countries.