Maya (mother of the Buddha)

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Maya (; Devanagari: माया, IAST: māyā), also known as Mahāmāyā and Māyādevī, was Queen of Shakya and the mother of Siddhartha Gautama, better known as the Buddha. She was the wife of Śuddhodana, the king of the Shakya kingdom. She died days after giving birth and the Buddha was raised by her sister, Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, who became the first Buddhist nun ordained by the Buddha. In the Buddhist commentaries, Maya was on a traditional journey to her familial home in Devadaha where she would give birth, but her labor started as they were in Lumbini. The Buddha was then born in the gardens and Maya died soon after the birth of the Buddha, generally said to have been seven days afterwards. Maya was then reborn, or came to life again, in a Buddhist heaven, a pattern that is said to be followed in the births of all Buddhas. Thus Maya did not raise her son, who was instead raised by her sister and his maternal aunt, Mahapajapati Gotami. Maya would, however, on occasion descend from Heaven to give...

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