There are at least three conflicting narriatives of the life of Buddha

These sources are canonical and were compiled centuries after the claimed events.

The literary traditions point to story telling as a means of sharing philosophical and doctrinal perspectives.

Archeological and textual references before 100 CE are scarce (texts older than 100 CE do not exist at this point) and the Pali literature was not compiled until the 4th or 5th century CE.

"The sources for the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are a variety of different, and sometimes conflicting, traditional biographies.

These include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sūtra, Mahāvastu, and the Nidānakathā.

Of these, the Buddhacarita is the earliest full biography, an epic poem written by the poet Aśvaghoṣa, and dating around the beginning of the 2nd century CE.

The Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda biography dating to the 3rd century CE.

The Mahāvastu from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE.

The Dharmaguptaka biography of the Buddha is the most exhaustive, and is entitled the Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra, and various Chinese translations of this date between the 3rd and 6th century CE.

Lastly, the Nidānakathā is from the Theravāda tradition in Sri Lanka, was composed in the 5th century CE by Buddhaghoṣa.

From canonical sources, the Jātakas, the Mahapadana Sutta (DN 14), and the Achariyabhuta Sutta (MN 123) include selective accounts that may be older, but are not full biographies.

The Jātakas retell previous lives of Gautama as a bodhisattva, and the first collection of these can be dated among the earliest Buddhist texts.

The Mahāpadāna Sutta and Achariyabhuta Sutta both recount miraculous events surrounding Gautama's birth, such as the bodhisattva's descent from Tuṣita Heaven into his mother's womb."

Source

https://www.reddit.com/r/zen/comments/2jikzg/there_are_at_least_three_conflicting_narriatives/