Historians Mircea Eliade and H.W. Schumann hypothesized that Prince Siddhārtha conceived Rāhula to please his parents, to obtain their permission for leaving the palace and becoming a mendicant. It was an Indian custom to renounce the world only after the birth of a child or grandchild. Schumann further speculated that the prince only conceived a son thirteen years after his marriage, because Yaśodharā initially did not want to bear a child, for fear that the prince would leave the palace and the throne as soon as the child was conceived. Orientalist Noël Péri believed that a late gestation period was more historically probable than the birth on the same day, as in the Pāli tradition. He believed that if Prince Siddhārtha had left an heir to the throne, there would have been no sound reason for him to leave secretly at night. In many traditional biographies, Prince Siddhārtha is described leaving the palace without his parents' permission. Péri argued that this makes little sense if he had already provided an heir to his parents' satisfaction. He further argued that there are many sources that try to explain the long gestation period, indicating an established tradition. Although many traditional accounts of the Buddha's life relate that Siddhartha leaves the palace in secret, Early Buddhist Texts clearly state that his parents are aware of his choice, as they are said to weep at the time their son leaves them.