According to Buddhist tradition, who was Siddhartha Gautama’s maternal aunt and foster mother?

According to Buddhist tradition, Mahapajapati Gotami was Siddhartha Gautama’s maternal aunt and foster mother. She was the younger sister of Queen Maya, the Buddha’s traditional birth mother.

After Maya died shortly after Siddhartha’s birth, Mahapajapati raised him in the Shakya community. Later, after Siddhartha became the Buddha, she asked to enter his monastic community. Buddhist tradition identifies her as the first woman ordained into the Buddha’s monastic order, although accounts differ in their details about the circumstances and rules of her admission.

Mahapajapati is also known by forms of the name Prajapati Gautami. She should not be confused with Maya, who gave birth to Siddhartha, or Yasodhara, who is traditionally described as Siddhartha’s wife. Her story is especially important in accounts of the beginnings of Buddhist nuns’ communities.