Maya, the wife of the monarch of a small kingdom spanning northern India and Nepal, dreams of a white elephant that enters her womb, according to traditions current during the reign of the Buddhist emperor Asoka around 300 BCE.

She gives birth after ten months to a son and dies seven days later.

A sage prophesies that the child will either become a great monarch or Buddha.

The child is known as Sakyamuni, which means "the silent sage of the Sakya tribe," and Gautama, his clan name.

He bears the personal name Siddhartha, "he who will accomplish.”