Māyā
Buddhist · mortal · mythic · mortal
A WOMAN WHOSE WHOLE RECORDED LIFE IS A BIRTH AND A DEATH SEVEN DAYS APART, and the sources say so plainly. The record does not narrate the dream of the white elephant or the birth from her side, because the treatment consulted does not.
Children
Relations
- mother of: Siddhārtha Gautama
- sibling: Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī
- spouse: Śuddhodana
Sources
- Reference treatment of the life of the Buddha and the family of Gautama Buddha: Suddhodana was a powerful leader of the Shakya tribe and Maya was his wife; Maya died shortly after Siddhartha was born and her sister Mahapajapati Gotami was elevated to chief consort; at the age of 16 he was married to his cousin Yasodhara, who was also 16; it took Yasodhara a long time to conceive a child, a boy named Rahula born on the day Siddhartha left the palace; Yasodhara was also a sister of Devadatta, who became a disciple of the Buddha and then, by some accounts, a dangerous rival; Rahula became a novice monk at the age of seven and spent the rest of his life with his father; at the persistent request of his stepmother Mahapajapati Gotami and with the advocacy of his attendant Ananda, the Buddha eventually established an order of nuns.