TANTRIC BUDDHISM (INCLUDING CHINA AND JAPAN)The first contemporary evidence of the presence of Buddhism in the Valley
comes from the corpus of Licchavi inscriptions ranging from 464 to about 880
AD and comprising nearly 200 inscriptions, some of them mere fragments.^33
Vp;;adeva, a king of the Licchavi period who precedes the time of the earliest
inscriptions, is said by the inscriptions and by the chronicles to have been a Bud-
dhist and to have founded a monastery at the famous Svayambhunath Maha-
caitya.^34 The inscriptions mention 14 vihiiras, and the Gopiilariijavamiiivafi, the
earliest and most reliable of the Nepalese chronicles, mentions six vihiiras from
this period.^35 Though all of the kings, except possibly Vr~adeva, seem to have
been clearly Hindu, some of the monasteries were founded by royal patronage or
royal grants: Srlmana Vihara built by Manadeva and Raja Vihara built by
another king, possibly A111suvarma. An inscription from the time of Amsuvarma
mentions religious taxes and the institutions which the collected revenue
support. Among these institutions (mostly Hindu shrines) are several vihiiras.^36
Two inscriptions, both dated Samvat 103 (678-9 AD), from the time of Naren-
dradeva, grant large tracts of land to vihiiras for their support. With the grant of
land and its income went certain other rights. The sailgha was entrusted with
authority to collect the taxes for their own use and to function as civil author-
ities, settling disputes among the people and issuing punishment for crimes com-
mitted by people within their territory.^37 Even at this early date one sees the
sailgha very much involved in secular business.
From the inscriptions themselves we know nothing about the internal opera-
tion of the vihiira, the makeup of the sailgha, or the life-style of the bhilcyus. We
know nothing about the sect or sects the bhilcyus of a given vihiira belonged to,
except for a fragmentary reference at Sankhu to the mahiisiitighika-bhilcyu-
satigha.38 There are a number of references to the bhilcyu-or bhilcyw;l-satigha
and one reference to a siikya-bhilcyu.^39 From a number of references in inscrip-
tions to A valokitesvara and images of him from the period which have survived,
we know that Mahayana Buddhism flourished. The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen-tsang
noted that there were both heretics (i.e. Hindus) and true believers (Buddhists) in
Nepal. The temples of the gods and the monasteries existed side by side and
there were a total of about 2,000 monks who studied both the Mahayana and
ffinayana.^40 It seems that Vajrayana Buddhism was known, but certainly had not
attained the dominance it later enjoyed.^41 This is really the sum of our know-
ledge of Buddhism during this period. Of the extant vihiiras, only one can be
traced with any degree of certainty to the Licchavi period: Gu111 Baha at Sankhu,
the Gu111 Vihara of the inscriptions. The Svayambhu Mahacaitya of course still
exists, but the vihiira has long disappeared.^42
The next period of Nepalese history is the so-called Thakur! period which
extends from about 7 50 AD (or 879 AD if one counts from the beginning of the
Nepal ~ra) until the first of the Malia kings in 1200 AD.^43 1t is a period of which
our knowledge is limited. Few inscriptions have survived and what little we
know of even the political history of the period comes mostly from colophons
on manuscripts, largely Buddhist, which mention the name of the reigning king