The Lakshachaitya ceremony

Kathmandu’s Svayambhu Stupa complex appears twice in this Nepalese painting. In the upper register, the whole complex is represented, with the central stupa flanked by shrines.
The second register depicts a ritual called the “hundred thousand (laksha) shrines (chaitya).” Here, row after row of small stupas have been placed on the shrine, each row color-coded to match the five directions of the Buddhist cosmos. In the center of the painting, Dharmadhatu Vagishvara, a form of Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, appears among the small stupas made by the donor and his family for the ritual. Around the Svayambhu Stupa, priests preside over various aspects of the ceremony.
The donor and his family appear in the bottom register, just beneath the inscription. It states that a merchant from Kathmandu had one hundred thousand (laksha) clay stupas (chaityas) donated to the Svayambhu temple on the occasion of his birthday in order to secure long life.