TANTRIC BUDDHISM (INCLUDING CHINA AND JAPAN)Valley of Nepal occurred long after Sankaracarya in the Thakur! period. If one
has to explain the later changes by a single event or a period of persecution of
the Buddhists, one would have to look for this in the Malla period or shortly
before its inception.
It is entirely possible that the story arose from the coming of a later
Sallkaracarya who is known from a single inscription dated 262 NS (1142 AD).
According to the evidence of the inscription, this man twice visited Nepal and in
his second visit in particular gathered quite a following. In his religious practice
and doctrine he was the antithesis of the great Sankaracarya - a follower of
Dvaitavada, an expert in yoga and a tantric master who covered himself with the
ashes of a Saiva siidhu and rode a bull. Even this inscription though gives no
evidence of a violent attack on the Buddhists. It does indicate a growing influ-
ence of tantric Saivism at the highest levels. He is reputed to have given dik~·ii to
the sons of the king, Sivadeva, to have repaired the Pasupatinath temple and to
have introduced tantric rituals in the worship of the lingam there.^64
What evidence we have from the Thakuri period and the early Malla period
supports the theory of a gradual change, eventually resulting in the disappear-
ance of celibate monks. It is interesting that this myth of Sankaracarya is found
only in the later chronicles written in the last century after the Gorkhali con-
quest. In speaking with Vajracaryas and Sakyas I have found a different strain in
the oral tradition. I have been continually told that the state of Buddhism is due
to the pressure exerted on the community by Hindu kings, who forced them to
conform to the social model of standard Hinduism. The king always mentioned
in this connection is Jayasthiti Malia. This must be linked with the general tradi-
tion that Jayasthiti Malia imposed a reorganized caste structure on Newar
society. This contention is also found in the chronicles, but again only in the
later chronicles. There is no mention of it in the Gopiilariijavarrzsiivali, the last
part of which was composed during the reign of Jayasthiti Malla and is almost a
day by day chronicle of events of his reign. That Jayasthiti Malia was a staunch
Hindu is clear, and if he had reorganized society along Hindu lines one would
expect this to be heralded in the chronicle. The only evidence we have of a king
directly interfering in the running of the vihiiras is the story in Wright's chron-
icle (still current in the oral tradition) of Siddhi Narasirpha reorganizing the
monasteries of Patan. His reorganization of the vihiiras seems to be an attempt
to induce some order into a chaotic situation and ensure that the traditions are
preserved. Objections were only raised by members of the bahis, who com-
plained that he was forcing on them a custom at variance with their traditions.
Yet it is clear that he does this only because they are not what they claim to be:
celibate monks. If they had been celibate monks without families there would
have been no need to impose family priests on them. I would see the myth of
Sallkaracarya as a reflexive attempt by the better educated and more reflective
members of the Buddhist community to explain the discrepancy they perceive
between the Buddhism of the Mahayana sutras or the tantric texts and the way it
is lived by the community at large.