Buddha - Kuan Yin & Ganesh Statues and Wall Decor

Few of the details of the Buddha's life can be independently verified, it is difficult to gauge the historical accuracy of these accounts. The main sources of information on Siddhârtha Gautama's life are the earliest available Buddhist texts. The following is a summary of those narratives. According to tradition, Siddhârtha (Buddha) was born more than 200 years before the reign of the Maurya king Aúoka (273–232 BCE).

The birth of Siddhartha, (2nd-3rd century).Siddhartha was born in Lumbini in modern day Nepal. His father was King Suddhodana, the chief of the Shakya nation, one of several ancient tribes in the growing state of Kosala; Gautama was the family name. His mother was Queen Maya (Mâyâdevî), Suddhodana's wife, who was a Koliyan princess. On the night Siddhartha was conceived, Queen Maya dreamt that a white elephant entered her right side, and ten lunar months later Siddhartha was born from her right side. 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 Kapilavastu, 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 Buddhist countries as Vesak. 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 (Pâli: Siddhatta), meaning “he who achieves his aim”. During the birth celebrations, the hermit seer Asita journeyed from his mountain abode and announced that this baby would either become a great king (chakravartin) or a great holy man. This occurred after Siddhartha placed his feet in Asita's hair and Asita examined the birthmarks.