Birth and early life: The Buddha was born about the year 563 B.C. in the kingdom of the Sakayas. As the son of Suddhodana, the King, and Mahamaya, the Queen, the Buddha thus came from a Ksatriya family.
The story of the Buddha's life, however, begins with an account of a dream that his mother Mahamaya, had one night before he was born: a beautiful elephant, white as silver, entered her womb through her side. Brahmins were asked to interpret the dream, and they foretold the birth of a son who could become either a Universal Monarch or a Buddha.
Ten lunar months later, at Lumbini, a park in Kapilavastu, the Buddha was born on the full moon day of the Month of Vesakha. The site of his birth, called Rummindi, now in Nepal, stands a pillar to commemorate the event, built later by Ashoka, in 3rd century B.C. Sage Asita on seeing the auspicious signs of the child, first laughed and then wept as he recognised this child to become a Buddha but was sad for he could not live to see the child's subsequent enlightment.
On the fifth day after birth, he was christened Siddharta (Pali Siddhatta), which means "one whose aim is accomplished". But on his seventh day, his mother died, and the child was brought up by her sister Mahaprajapati Gautami, Suddhodana's second consort.
In his early youth he displayed unusual sensitivity to the pressing enigmas of human existence. His family endeavoured unsuccessfully to distract him from these concerns and to insulate him from the signs of human finitude - suffering, contingency, and death. At the age of 16, Siddharata was married to his cousin, a princess named Yasodhara, also 16 years old. Although Suddoddhana tried his utmost to make Siddharata content by providing him with luxury and comfort, as the Buddha himself is reported to have said later about his upbringing.
