Buddhist Studies:

This bas relief depicts Maya Devi with her right hand holding on to a sal tree with a newborn child standing upright on a lotus petal, shedding an oval halo, around his head. This nativity scene of the future Buddha was installed by a Malla King of the Naga dynasty who ruled over two states which flourished from about the 11th to the 15th century in the Karnali zone of Nepal. The original Maya Devi sculpture was restored by archeologists. The nativity scene is worshipped both by Buddhists and Hindus. Besides the original nativity sculpture, there is a marble copy of the original (see above), made by a famous Nepalese artist, Chandra Man Maskey in about 1956.