Maya, the Asian Mother Goddess

Who then is Maya? The nativity scene provides three clues: a) Buddha drops to the ground like a fruit; b) Indra, Lord of the Hindu gods, who reigns in Trayastrimsa Heaven, descends to earth to catch the Buddha on a cushion; and c) Maya gives birth, dies and ascends to Trayastrimsa Heaven. Lurking in the shadows of the Buddha’s birth, therefore, is a palace revolution that overturns the Aryan heavens. First, the Vedic superhero Indra is demoted to a midwife. Then a mere woman usurps his celestial throne and reigns over the solar gods.

Who else could thus triumph except the great earth fertility goddess worshipped throughout aboriginal India? And if these facts do not suffice to prove that Maya is indeed the Great Asian Mother Goddess, then her birth-giving posture can leave one in no doubt: Right hand grasping the tree branch and right foot raised. This is the signature pose of the dryad – the fertility nymph residing in the sacred tree – who emerges briefly at the end of the dry season and, with a swift kick to the truck, imparts vitality to the sap of the tree causing it to burst gloriously into flower and fruit.

It is iconic in Indian art, mimed in the folk choreography of village festivals and the archetype of erotic and sensuous women decorating Indian architecture from Sanchi to Angkor Wat. The Buddha’s mother has been absorbed by the image of the tree nymph. Hence her epiphany is brief. She disappears with the last flowers fall, driven by the onset of the monsoon rains. Buddha drops to earth. Maya ascends to Heaven.

Born of a dryad from a Sal tree at the New Year fruiting season, therefore, the fatherless Buddha is quintessentially his mother’s child. His destiny is thereby determined. He will not rule in the masculine domain as cakravartin. Instead, he will become the Fully Enlightened One – a Buddha. Under the spell of the mother goddess, he will conquer old age, sickness and death.

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