(Part
One) 2. The Birth of the Prince
About
ten months after her dream of a white elephant and the
sign that she would give birth to a great leader, Queen
Maya was expecting her child. One day she went to the
king and said, "My dear, I have to go back to my
parents. My baby is almost due." Since it was the
custom in India for a wife to have her baby in her father's
house, the king agreed, saying, "Very well, I will
make the necessary arrangements for you to go."
The
king then sent soldiers ahead to clear the road and prepared
others to guard the queen as she was carried in a decorated
palanquin. The queen left Kapilavatthu in a long procession
of soldiers and retainers, headed for the capital of her
father's kingdom.
On
the way to the Koliya country, the great procession passed
a garden called Lumbini Park. This garden was near the
kingdom called Nepal, at the foot of the Himalayan mountains.
The beautiful park with its sala trees and scented flowers
and busy birds and bees attracted the queen. Since the
park was a good resting place, the queen ordered the bearers
to stop for a while. As she rested underneath one of the
sala trees, her birth began and a baby boy was born. It
was an auspicious day. The birth took place on a full
moon (which is now celebrated as Vesak, the festival of
the triple event of Buddha's birth, enlightenment and
death), in the year 623 B.C.
According
to the legends about this birth, the baby began to walk
seven steps forward and at each step a lotus flower appeared
on the ground. Then, at the seventh stride, he stopped
and with a noble voice shouted:
