This large-scale terracotta relief of a Buddha sitting cross-legged in meditating position was recovered from the collapsed remains of a 5th-6th century stupa at Kahu-jo-daro, near Mirpur Khas, in Sind, Pakistan. It came from a recess in one of the faces of the square basement section of the stupa and it is one of a series of depictions of Buddhas that decorated the walls of the basement.
Stupas were the archetypal Buddhist structures, developing from cairns made to cover relics of the Buddha but later covering other sacred relics and objects and acting as a distinctive symbol of Buddhism. Early examples were probably simple hemispherical mounds of earth but over time they came to be encased in brick or stone and became more elaborate and often taller, the dome being mounted on a cylindrical drum, surrounded by a processional pathway with railings. The drum was, in turn, in some places raised on a square base. Similarly, elaborate programmes of sculpture came to be used to adorn some stupas. At the time this stupa was made Buddhism was far more widely practised in India than it is today, the religion having all but disappeared in northern India around the thirteenth century.