Description

During the Pala period, clay tablets were made in a number of square and quadrangular shapes and sizes with various designs. The clay tablets were used during prayers and for decorative purposes on the plinth and lower terraces of the stupas. A large number of similar clay moulds with the Buddhist creed in Pali, and iconic forms of Buddha and bodhisattvas have been discovered from central and north-east Thailand, dating to the Dvaravati period (ca. 7th -9th centuries CE). In this votive object, an unuasl reprsentation of Buddha in earth touching gesture (bhumisparsh mudra) is enshrined within a motif of the Bodhgaya temple shikhara.