Buddha's mother as a Yakshi

Ananda Pagoda Temple in the Bagan Archeological Zone, Myanmar

Sidhartha's mother Queen Maya balances herself with a branch from a Sala tree giving birth to the future Buddha from her left side. An emphasis of her fertility is demonstrated by the holding of her attendants breast.

The iconography is much older than the Buddhist religion. The nearly identical representation goes back to the pre-Vedic era. The mother goddess origins on the fertilizing power of women that made the trees blossom by their mere touch.

Yakshis or Yakshini (Sanskrit) are beings found in Hindi, Buddhist and Jain mythology. In South India Yakshis are not benevolent. They exist to seduce men and lure then to their death.

Right side image:Vedika pillar with Yaksini. 

Yakshini.jpg

In this case, the yaksi is in the form of a vrksa-devata (tree goddess), and specifically, an asoka dohada, that is, a dohada who grasps the branch of an asoka tree. Dohada is a Prakrt word that means "two hearted one" and refers specially to the longings of the pregnant woman, whose body contains her own heart and that of her unborn child. The term is also used to refer to plants at budding time, which is said to long for the touch of a beautiful woman, as this causes them to bloom. A double reference to fruit being brought forth occurs in the blossoming tree and the gesture of the dohada's left hand, which points to her genital area while holding a flowering branch from the asoka tree as if it emerges from her womb.

The Art of Ancient India by Susan L. Huntington

Thilashin Nuns in Myanmar

Buddhist Burmese categorize Thilashin as tawdwet or ngebyu. A nun who was previously married or widowed before choosing to be ordained is a tawdwet. Ngebyu nuns or young women who are "young and pure," usually virgins that seek ordination as a nun as a profession.

Because ngebyu nuns are considered to have more knowledge of scripture and the practice of meditation that are more accorded more respect that tawdwet nuns.

Source: In Search of Buddha's Daughters by Christine Toomey

A History of Women Saints in Buddhism

When the Buddha's mother died suddenly seven days after his birth, the responsibility to raise him fell to his aunt. After he established his monastic order of monks she came to him with a request to create a parallel order of ordained female members of the Sangha. He refused her first request but later changed his mind. The first order of ordained women was created, separate from the male order and under the leadership of Buddha's aunt.

These women became Buddhism's first order of nuns. There where twelve apostles and they are regarded as Bhikshuni saints. Buddha's aunt Mahaprajapati became the first woman in Buddhism to become an Arhat (enlightened one) and many of her apostles achieved enlightenment.