According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha’s horse when he left the palace was named Kanthaka.
Kanthaka appears in traditional accounts of Siddhartha Gautama’s Great Renunciation, the departure from palace life that began his search for liberation. Siddhartha is said to have ridden Kanthaka away from Kapilavastu at night, accompanied by his charioteer Channa. The horse carried him to the edge of the royal territory, where Siddhartha removed his ornaments and cut his hair before beginning life as a seeker.
Kanthaka is portrayed as a loyal and powerful animal. Some Buddhist stories say that the horse died from grief soon after Siddhartha’s departure and was later reborn in a fortunate realm. These details belong to Buddhist literary tradition rather than independently verified biography.
Kanthaka should not be confused with Airavata, the divine elephant associated with the Hindu god Indra. The famous horse in this renunciation story is specifically Kanthaka.