"Enshrining" or "enthroning" freestanding statues of the Buddha with elaborate surrounds derives from the ancient Indian practice of placing stone images within the decorative niches of temple walls. In the later sculpture traditions of Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Burma, and Thailand, this tradition toward decorative elaboration became increasingly popular.

The Buddha's intense meditation took place under a sacred fig or bodhi tree, which is probably represented by the luxuriant foliage in the ornately perforated outer borders of the surround. Also displayed are disks containing a rooster and hare, symbols for the sun and the moon and twenty-four adoring crowned figures most likely representing the twenty-four mortal Buddhas.