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.
