Maya (/ˈmɑːjə/; Devanagari: माया, IAST: māyā), also known as Mahāmāyā and Māyādevī, was the queen of Shakya and the birth mother of Gautama Buddha, the sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded.

[2][3] 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.

In Buddhist literature and art, Queen Maya is portrayed as a beautiful fecund woman in the prime of life.

— From the Lalitavistara Sūtra Although sometimes shown in other scenes from her life, such as having a dream foretelling her pregnancy with Gautama Buddha or with her husband King Śuddhodana seeking prophecies about their son's life, shortly after his birth, she is most often depicted whilst giving birth to Gautama, an event that is generally accepted to have taken place in Lumbini in modern-day Terai.

Maya is usually shown giving birth standing under a tree and reaching overhead to hold on to a branch for support.

According to legend, one full moon night, sleeping in the palace of her husband Śuddhodana, the queen had a vivid dream.

According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha-to-be was residing as a bodhisattva in the Tuṣita heaven, and decided to take the shape of a white elephant to be reborn on Earth for the last time.

Scholars generally agree that most Buddhist literature holds that Maya died seven days after the birth of Buddha, and was then reborn in the Tusita Heaven.

After Siddhartha had attained Enlightenment and become the Buddha, he visited his mother in heaven for three months to pay respects and to teach the Dharma.