Reiko Ohnuma is Associate Professor of Religion at Dartmouth College and is affiliated with the Asian & Middle Eastern Studies Program and the Women's & Gender Studies Program. She is a specialist in the Buddhist traditions of South Asia, with a particular interest in Indian Buddhist narrative literature, hagiography, and the role and imagery of women.

"this is a masterful work of synchronic interpretation. It stands as a great resource to scholars of Indian Buddhism and gender studies, as well as religious studies and Buddhist studies more broadly. Clear and insightful in its presentation, the work provides an excellent basis for conversation in both undergraduate and graduate classrooms." -- Adam T. Miller, Journal of Religion

"In this wonderfully well-balanced book, Reiko Ohnuma insightfully explores the complex ways in which motherhood is both valued and undermined in the Indian Buddhist tradition. By masterfully comparing and contrasting traditions about the Buddha's two mothers-his birth mother Maya, and his foster mother Mahaprajapata--she shows how the trope of motherhood led both to a feminization of Buddhist ideals, but also a cooptation of motherhood in a male-dominated world. A must-read for all students of Buddhism and of Women and Gender Studies." --John S. Strong, Charles A. Dana Professor of Religious Studies, Bates College

"Not only does the book offer a compelling argument about motherhood in premodern South Asian Buddhism, but it also provides an extremely helpful roadmap of current scholarship on gender and the family in South Asian Buddhism." --Elizabeth Wilson, Professor of Comparative Religion, Miami University