The triad consists of a meditating Buddha seated on th coils of a serpent flanked to his left by the feminine deity, ,
and to his right by , “the Lord of the World.” The base is tiered, and the central figure is elevated—a symbol o sovereignty and pre-eminence in the spiritual realm. Wearing a full-length skirt drawn together by an ornate belt,
grasps lotus flowers in her hands with arms raised forward in the teaching mudra. She is considered the incarnation of the Divine World. The four-armed assumes an analogous pose, wearing short dhoti held in place by a belt and holding a lotus bud and a vase. The central Buddha figure is adorned with armbands, heavy earrings an jeweled necklaces, and a transparent-like robe is incised along the borders tha cover the chest and drape over the left shoulder. All three figures display an introspective dreamy expression implied b the familiar formula of closed eyes and smiling lips.



The Cambodian ideal image of the Buddha evolved during the rise of the empire.  Indebted to the Gupta canon, the massive, spheroid conceptio of the head became the standard feature of Khmer Buddhist iconography. The separation of the hairline from the face with a band developed i this period, indicative of the tendency of Khmer sculpture to assume a more har linear character through clear-cut definition of features. The appearance of the closed eyes and lips distended into long mysterious smile became the Khmer formula for indicating the self-containe bliss and serenity of the Enlightened One. Khmer heads contain a suggestion of personality or individuality withi the mould of iconographical convention perhaps due to the custom of attributin these icons to idealized portraits of the reigning monarch in the guise of a
or god-king.


In Khmer sculpture, the prevalence of the iconograph of the Buddha seated on the coils of a giant serpent is not entirely a portraya of the obscure legend of Sakyamuni's encounter with a naga after hi enlightenment.  It is a reference t the legend that the nagas or serpent deities were the divine progenitors an protectors of the Cambodian throne. Regardless of whether the state religion wa Hindu or Buddhist, the conception of the ruler as the earthly embodiment of th prevailing deity of the realm was an established tenet of the Cambodian belie system.