Maya Devi temple, Lumbini, Nepal.
Siddhārtha was born more than 200 years before the reign of the Maurya king Aśoka (273–232 BCE). The birth of Siddhartha, (2nd-3rd century). Siddhartha was born in Lumbini[1] and raised in the small kingdom or principality of Kapilavastu. His father was King Suddhodana[citation needed], the chief of the Shakya nation, one of several ancient tribes in the growing state of Kosala; Gautama was the family name. As was the Shakya tradition, when his mother Queen Maya fell pregnant, she returned to her father's kingdom to give birth, but after leaving Kapilvastu, she gave birth along the way at Lumbini in a garden beneath a sal tree.
The day of the Buddha's birth is widely celebrated in Theravada countries as Vesak.[6] Various sources hold that the Buddha's mother died at his birth, a few days or seven days later. The infant was given the name Siddhartha (Pāli: Siddhattha), meaning “he who achieves his aim”. During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that the child would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great holy man.[citation needed] This occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's hair and Asita examined the birthmarks. Suddhodarna held a naming ceremony on the fifth day, and invited eight brahmin scholars to read the future. All gave a dual prediction that the baby would either become a great king or a great holy man.[citation needed] Kaundinya (Pali: Kondanna), the youngest, and later to be the first arahant, was the only one who unequivocally predicted that Siddhartha would become a Buddha.[7]
