THE UNIQUE FEATURES OF NEWAR BUDDHISMsource of renewal in India. Buddhism in the Valley has always been a popular
religion catering to the needs of a largely uneducated and agricultural society
which has always been a caste Hindu society, though perhaps less rigidly so
before Jayasthiti Malia.
Despite this, every Newar would admit that today a deterioration has set in.
The story cited above of the painting of Vanaratna is a case in point. 125 years
ago he was remembered, and it was so important to the people of Pintu Bah! to
preserve his memory that they made a new copy of the faded painting. Within
the past thirty years the paintings were both sold and Vanaratna has been forgot-
ten. People will point to the deteriorating state of the vihiiras, especially in Kath-
mandu where soaring cement boxes replace sections of the biihii complex, so
that all that is left of the original architecture is the shrine of the kwiipii-dya.
Except at a few places, like Jana Baha in Kathmandu and some of the main
biihiis in Patan, rituals, are performed perfunctorily with few people in atten-
dance. Fewer people attend many of the festivals each year, and there is more
and more of a carnival atmosphere. Many people call the Vajracarya for only the
most essential rituals, and even at these one often finds that the family leaves the
priest to perform the rituals alone. They are present at the beginning or only
when their presence is required. Vajracaryas are poorly paid for their services.
People are paying them the same stipends they were years ago before inflation,
and it is impossible for a man to make a decent living functioning only as a
priest. One has the impression that they are providing a service that the people
still feel obliged to make use of but one which they find increasingly irksome or
irrelevant. Many young Sakyas and Vajracaryas know of their biihii only as the
place where they received their caste initiation. One Sakya of Patan, about thirty
years old, says he has visited his biihii only once: at the time of his initiation. He
does not remember the name of the biihii and can give only the most general
indications of its location. There are few Vajracaryas today who know any San-
skrit and who can explain the Dharma or even explain the rituals they perform.
When questioned by their clients they respond that it is all secret and they
cannot explain it to any but the initiated.
These changes are a part of the general socio-economic and political changes
which began with the Gorkhali conquest, but have intensified since 1951 when
Nepal was opened up to the outside world. The most important factor in these
changes, which affect all sectors of Newar society and not just the vihiiras or the
Buddhists, is the undercutting of the economic basis of Newar cultural institu-
tions. All Newar cultural institutions are regulated by giithis and financed by
revenue from guthi lands. Several factors have cut into this revenue. The most
obvious is the ever increasing population of the vihiiras. The members of the
families who farm the land of the vihiiras are also increasing. Land is not
increasing. A given piece of land must now support more farmers and feed more
people at giithi feasts. Even if all the endowments had remained intact, the
whole system would be under strain. But they have not. Some lands were confis-
cated by the Gorkhalis when they conquered the Valley, and more agricultural