The Buddha-to-be took his final birth as the prince Siddhārtha Gautama, descending from the realm of Tuṣita to enter the womb of Mahāmāyā, queen of the Śākya kingdom in northern India. On the night of his conception, his mother dreamed of a white elephant with six tusks. While she was en route to her parents’ home from her residence in Kapilavastu, Queen Mahāmāyā delivered him easily, holding the branch of a tree in a grove near a town called Lumbinī. As was the custom of the time, sages were called upon to interpret the marks on the child’s body for signs of his future destiny. They predicted two possible courses for his life: if he remained in the palace, they said, he would become a great wheel-turning king, far surpassing his father in the scope and fame of his realm. Or, if he went forth from the palace as a wandering ascetic, he would become a buddha—one who had attained the highest possible state of complete and perfect enlightenment.