And hies to earth to gentle Mâyâ's womb."
In the Christian scriptures there is also a double annunciation. In Luke (i. 28) the angel Gabriel is said to have appeared to the Virgin Mary before her conception, and to have foretold to her the miraculous birth of Christ. But in spite of this astounding miracle, Joseph seems to have required a second personal one before he ceased to question the chastity of his wife. (Matt. i. 19.) Plainly, two evangelists have been working the same mine independently, and a want of consistency is the result.
When Buddha was in his mother's womb that womb was transparent. The Virgin Mary was thus represented in mediæval frescoes. (See illustration, p. 39, in my "Buddhism in Christendom.")
"WE HAVE SEEN HIS STAR IN THE EAST."
In the Buddhist legend the devas in heaven announce that Buddha will be born when the Flower-star is seen in the East. (Lefman, xxi. 124; Wassiljew, p. 95.)
Amongst the thirty-two signs that indicate the mother of a Buddha, the fifth is that, like Mary the mother of Jesus, she should be "on a journey" (Beal, "Rom. History," p. 32) at the moment of parturition. This happened. A tree (palâsa, the scarlet butea) bent down its branches and overshadowed her, and Buddha came forth. Voltaire says that in the library of Berne there is a copy of the First Gospel of the Infancy, which records that a palm tree bent down in a similar manner to Mary. ("Œuvres," vol. xl.) The Koran calls it a "withered date tree."
In the First Gospel of the Infancy, it is stated that, when Christ was in His cradle, He said to His mother: "I am Jesus, the Son of God, the Word whom thou didst bring forth according to the declaration of the angel Gabriel to thee, and my Father hath sent Me for the salvation of the world."
In the Buddhist scriptures it is announced that Buddha, on seeing the light, said:—
"I am in my last birth. None is my equal. I have come to conquer death, sickness, old age. I have come to subdue the spirit of evil, and give peace and joy to the souls tormented in hell."
In the same scriptures (see Beal, "Rom. History," p. 46) it is announced that at the birth of the Divine child, the devas (angels) in the sky sang "their hymns and praises."