Queen Maya ("Maya" meaning illusion in Sanskrit, also called Mahamaya, meaning Great Maya, or Mayadevi, the Goddess Maya. Tibetan: Gyutrulma) was the mother of the historical Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, to whom she gave birth in the 6th century BCE.

Maya was the wife of king Suddhodana, the ruler of the Shakya clan of Kshatriya warriors. She was the daughter of King Suddhodhana's uncle, who was also a king of a neighboring subdivision of the same Shakya clan.

The birth of the Buddha-to-be

Queen Maya and King Suddhodhana did not have children for twenty years into their marriage. One day however, Queen Maya dreamt of a white elephant entering her side, and became pregnant. According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha-to-be was residing as a Bodhisattva in the Tusita heaven, and decided to take the shape of a white elephant to be reborn, for the last time, on Earth.

The pregnancy lasted ten lunar months. Following custom, the Queen returned to her own home for the birth. On the way, she step down from her palanquin to have a walk in the beautiful flower garden of Lumbini Park. She was delighted by the park, she reached for a branch to take a rest, upon what the Prince emerged from her right side and was born. It was the eighth day of April.

The child was named Sidhartha, meaning "Every wish fulfilled".

Queen Maya passed away seven days after the birth of the Buddha-to-be, and went to the Tusita Heaven. Her sister Prajapati became the child's foster mother.

Religious parallels

The circumstances of the birth of the Buddha are quite reminescent of the birth of Jesus. Queen Maya was virgin of human conception, and she came to bear the child by the intervention of the Tusita spirit of the Buddha, very much like Jesus was conceived in connection with the visitation of the Holy Ghost to the Virgin Mary. The name Maya may be connected to Maria, the Greek name for Mary.

The story of the birth of the Buddha was well known in the West, and possibly influenced the story of the birth of Jesus. Saint Jerome (4th century CE) mentions the birth of the Buddha, who he says "was born from the side of a virgin". Also a fragment of Archelaos of Carrha (278 CE) mentions the Buddha's virgin-birth.

Greco-Roman mythological parallels

Maia is also the name of a Greek goddess, who was also called the "Grandmother of Magic". She was seduced by Zeus, and gave birth to Mercury (the Greek Hermes). The planet Mercury was named for him, and happens to be called Budh in Sanskrit, meaning enlightenment, and radical for the name Buddha, "the enlightened one".

See also

• Siddhartha Gautama
• History of Buddhism