Queen Maha Maya

Queen Maha Maya was the daughter of King Anjana and Queen Yasodhara of the Koliya caste. She was the chief consort of King Suddhodana and the mother of Prince Siddhattha.

One night Queen Maha Maya had a strange dream. She dreamt that the Devas from the four directions of the earth took her to Lake Anotatta on top of the Himalayan Mountains. She was bathed in the lake and dressed in heavenly clothes and ornaments. A white baby elephant carrying a white lotus flower in its trunk trumpeted, and after circling around her three times, entered her body.

The next morning she told King Suddhodana of her dream. He consulted sages who, on hearing of the dream, predicted that the Queen would have a wise and noble baby boy. The king and queen were very happy for they had no children and were longing for a child.

According to the custom of that time, Queen Maha Maya decided to visit her mother so that she could be with her at the time of the birth of her baby. On the way, she stopped at the Lumbini Pleasure Garden to rest. Under a sweet-scented Sala tree, on a full-moon day in the month of May, in the year 623 BC, the Prince Siddhattha was born.

Seven days later Queen Maha Maya passed away. Her Sister, Maha Pajapati Gotami, who was the second consort of King Suddhodana, nursed and took care of the baby Prince. Queen Maha Maya was reborn as a male Deva by the name of Matu Deva Putta in the Tusita heaven. Later she passed away from the Tusita heaven to the Tavatimsa Heaven to hear the Abhidhamma, the Higher Teachings. The Buddha dispensed the Higher Teachings for three months in the Tavatimsa heaven to a multitude of Devas presided over by his former mother.

It is said that Prince Siddhattha’s mother, Matu Deva Putta, had appeared before Him and encouraged Him to persevere when he had fainted, weak from the practice of self- mortification. The Ascetic Gotama had practised self-mortification to its fullest degree and reduced His meals to just one mustard seed a day. His flesh and muscle had withered and His skin had clung to His protruding bones. Weak with hunger, the Bodhisatta had fainted momentarily. His former mother had appeared before Him and encouraged Him in His Noble Quest.

The role of the mother of the Buddha is a sacred role that requires great effort. Queen Maha Maya aspired to be a mother of a Buddha one hundred thousand world cycles ago at the time of the Padumuttara Buddha, the fifteenth Buddha preceding our Gotama Buddha. She then performed meritorious deeds and kept the preceptsfor one hundred thousand world cycles to fulfil her aspiration.