The Buddha descending from Indra's heaven flanked by the deities Brahma and Indra

This sculpture depicts one of the many miraculous stories of the Buddha. He is shown descending from Indra’s heaven. The Buddha went to this heaven, ruled over by the king of the gods, to preach to his deceased mother and the other inhabitants. When the Buddha was ready to return to Earth, Indra and another powerful god, Brahma, honored him by accompanying him as highranking attendants would. Brahma is recognizable by his four heads (of which one is unseen and understood to be at the back). Indra holds an honorific parasol over the Buddha. Buddhist mythology accepts the existence of gods such as Indra and Brahma but treats them as secondary.