Buddhist traditions, Nivedita and Coomaraswamy
Mahamaya
Mahamaya’s dream takes her to the Himalayas, where divine queens purify her and the Bodhisattva approaches with a lotus, or in another reported form as a white elephant. The collection explicitly preserves both forms. The birth occurs while she rests among sal trees at Lumbini. Divine beings receive the child, and his first step brings forth a lotus from the earth.
Also known as Māyādevī · Queen Maya
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In the sources
Principal account
TraditionalMahamaya’s dream takes her to the Himalayas, where divine queens purify her and the Bodhisattva approaches with a lotus, or in another reported form as a white elephant. The collection explicitly preserves both forms.
Further detail
TraditionalThe birth occurs while she rests among sal trees at Lumbini. Divine beings receive the child, and his first step brings forth a lotus from the earth.
Context & interpretation
The entry follows the miraculous conception and birth narrative in the collection. It keeps the dream’s alternative forms attributed and does not equate the legendary events with an independently reconstructed obstetric history.
Original passages
Source 1
Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists
in the form of a white elephantOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists (1914), active reader leaf 316
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0109-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0109-E001-P0316
- Original scan leaf
- 316
- Recorded leaf number
- 316
- Current Reader position
- 307
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists
a garden of sal-trees, called LumbiniOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Myths of the Hindus & Buddhists (1914), active reader leaf 316
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0109-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0109-E001-P0316
- Original scan leaf
- 316
- Recorded leaf number
- 316
- Current Reader position
- 307
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Continue exploring
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