The Buddha stands atop a ladder surrounded by attendants and celestial beings, preparing to descend to earth from Trayastrimsha to teach his mother the Buddhist dharma, as she had died shortly after his birth. This event was an important miracle in Kashmir, Gandhara, and, later, Tibet. The treatment of the Buddha’s robes closely relates this shrine to the rock-cut imagery of Swat (see 1995.570.2).
