The girl who became a Buddha by Maria Denjongpa

Written by Maria Denjongpa

Reviewed by Usha Mukunda and Sujata Noronha

A book that may appeal to teenagers who have heard about the extraordinary life of the Buddha and wish to know more about the people who were close to him.

Publishing Date: 2026 ISBN: 978-0-143-47930-7 Page Count: 327 Publisher: Duckbill ( An Imprint of Penguin Random House) Review posted online: October 2026. QBR Reviews Issue: Q3 2026  Categories: Historical |  Fact Fiction | Biographical | Spiritual

This is a story set in the 5th Century B.C. against the background of the life of the Buddha. The title refers to Pajapati, the younger sister of Maya who as we learn later in the book, gives birth to Siddhartha – the Buddha. In part based on fact and in part fictional, the author portrays Pajapati as a rebellious, outspoken young girl in sharp contrast to her gentler and more obedient older sister. As Pajapati says at the start of the book,” I was a volcano, Maya was the sea.” She and Maya are both married to King Suddhodhana (a customary practice of that time) and taken to Kapilavastu. Pajapati accepts her role as a second and undesirable wife only because it means she can be with the sister she admires and loves. 

The author, Maria Denzongpa is a teacher and now lives in Sikkim where she and her Sikkimese husband founded the school Takste International School. This is her first book, though we understand she is writing another on a similar theme of spirituality.

When Maya dies after giving birth to Siddhartha, the story describes Pajapati’s life in her new role as Suddhodhana’s wife, foster mother to Siddhartha and then a mother herself of two children. The narration continues to mention snippets of her daily life but primarily focuses on major events in Siddhartha’s life which she observes and responds to. Only much later in the book do we see her setting out on her quest to become a Buddha or an Enlightened one. 

The book is divided into five parts. Starting with “Birth and Death,” it goes on with “Grief and Joy,” “Waiting”, “The End of an Era” and finally “A new life.” After reading the book completely, we felt that these titles track Pajapati’s life story quite closely, though this was not apparent while reading the book. The story is told in very short chapters and zig-zags from place to place and person to person too quickly. The titles to these chapters are at times cryptic. For instance, it’s not clear what the direct connection is between “The Monkey’s stare,” or “I talk, you listen” to the flow of the story.  The absence of a list of contents adds to the feeling of unsettledness. Apart from the images on the cover, there are no illustrations in the text. The elaborate and repetitive cloud patterns at the beginning of each chapter,  and similarly the floral designs at the start of each section do not make up for this absence!

There are many characters who enter and exit and a young reader might find it confusing to hold on to the ones who are critical to the flow of the story.

In general the language is simple and the author uses short sentences to move the story along but every now and then there are sentences which could be beyond the understanding of a 12-13 year old reader.

  “ Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unexamined thoughts, says the Buddha”. Page 238.

 Pajapati says about Amrapali, the courtesan. “I heard sobs of horror and grief….as she entered the mind of a dying god .” Page 307.

One question remained as we were reading the story and even after it ended. Who is the intended reader? What is the age level the author meant this book for? The book indicates the age group as 12 and up. Is there a young person of this age who would be drawn to reading the book if she/he had no background or exposure to the Buddha’s life or had not been raised in a spiritual environment?

Another point to question is that the blurb refers to Pajapati as a woman though the title of the book mentions a ‘girl’. Was the title chosen to attract younger girls to read the book? Was it the author’s choice or the publisher’s? With all this in mind we decided to introduce it to a group of 13 year olds to ask if they would be likely to read this book. We passed the book around for them to look at all parts of the book in smaller groups of twos and threes. They read a few sentences, read the blurb, looked at the cover, and then got back with honest feedback. The boys said they were unlikely to read it. One girl said she was drawn to the character of Pajapati as she seemed to be a rebel and was centred in the story whereas most stories had a male hero. Another said she had done a project on the life of the Buddha and would be interested in knowing more about his foster mother. A third young person shared that the cover pictures with gold outlines made her inclined to read it but she did not think she would read it entirely! Similar feedback came from the others.

After this plain sharing, we wondered if it might be a good idea to ask an older teenager to read and share how she might have processed this book when she was a 12-13 year old. Now 16 years old, N readily agreed to do this and got back after reading to say that as a younger person she would definitely not have felt the importance of what Pajapati was experiencing. According to her, a 12 year old  “would not be able to grasp the spiritual nature of the story.” Even a 13-14 year old would need some context and/or an adult to read it with. But at her current age, she liked the book because, having heard the story of the Buddha, “ it was lovely to read a story that gave a perspective of his times and of the people close to him, especially Pajapati.” It was interesting for us to realise (yet again) that young people read and assimilate books somewhat differently from adults.  N had not noticed the absence of a table of contents nor was she bothered by the points mentioned earlier. It seemed as if she stayed focused on what she enjoyed reading and was not unsettled by anything else! 

13 year old T read the book and came back with insightful responses. Overall, she said it was an interesting read because the content was all new to her but she had questions and even suggestions for the author! She was initially drawn to the story because at the start Pajapati was shown as rebellious and feisty but as the story progressed she seemed to conform and become more submissive. There was a disconnect between the story and the dialogue, she felt, and the pace of the story was uneven. Most of the events were narrated to us through Pajapati, so she never got to know any other perspectives.  Lastly, while she felt happy to hear that the other king Pasenadi accepted and respected his wife who was a slave, she would have liked to know a bit more about the situation with slaves at that time. 

The setting is in the time of the Buddha but apart from descriptions of gardens and mention of large buildings, not much else was sketched out. Mention of drinking from a straw also seemed out of place for that period but in response to our query, the author said that in her research she discovered that bamboo was being used then. While the ‘ bamboo straw’  is a trivial example, we refer to it because it seemed a bit incongruous to put that in, when the author could well have given us a more in-depth picture of the social order of the time. We are told at one point that Maya and Pajapati had ayahs to take care of them. But this nomenclature is unlikely to have been there then.

There are some passing allusions to caste divisions which merited deeper attention and treatment.  For example,  we are introduced only peripherally to Vitutabha who  is the son of a slave. While his father has respect for his lower caste wife, we learn that Vitubha has been kept in ignorance of this fact. “ If he ever discovers his mother was a slave he will take revenge on us all,’’ says the father.  Could the author have dwelt a little on the social practices of the time with this example?   One of the younger women who accompanies Pajapati on her walk to the Buddha is said to be of a lower caste but in the extended pages of the story, she is asked to collect and immerse Pajapati’s ashes. Who initiates this? What was the thinking behind this act?  We are not told. The character of the courtesan, Amrapalli, has interesting layers but is not uncovered as much as it could have been.

Even though Pajapati as a person seems uni-dimensional, something about the magical and moving story of the Buddha drew us into the book from about Section 3 which is called ‘Waiting” and talks about the awakening of Siddhartha after he sees the evidence of sorrow everywhere. However, one can’t help feeling that it was Siddhartha’s story rather than Pajapati’s that made the difference.

There are glimpses of Pajapati’s individual spirit when she takes on archery lessons and has a unique relationship with her teacher. But they do not go much further after she becomes the queen. Her subsequent unexpected step to become a monk is the part the title promises,  but  the focus on her bold decision comes in the latter part of the book. Her relationship with Suddhodana blows hot and cold and it would have been interesting to understand his character a bit more intimately. 

In conclusion, we feel that this book may attract older children of 16 and above as well as those who are drawn to the deeper questions of life. Our young readers’ sharings also made us feel that an initial talking together with younger children to provide the context would bring the theme and content closer to them.   

Other Books

1. A Mauryan Adventure by Subhadra Sengupta, Puffin Books (Penguin Random House India), 2012
2. History Unpacked: The why, when and what of Ancient India, by Saisudha Acharya and Rohil-Bhasi, Duckbill Books (Penguin Random House India), 2025
3. Old Path, White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha, by Thich Nhat Han and Nguyen Thi Hop, Parallax Press, 1991
4. The Life of the Buddha by Heather Sanche and Tara Di Gesu, Bala Kids, 2020
5. Queen of  Earth, by Devika Rangachari, Duckbill Books (Penguin Random House India), 2020
6.  Queen of Water by Devika Rangachari, Duckbill Books (Penguin Random House India), 2025