TANTRIC BUDDHISM (INCLUDING CHINA AND JAPAN)brothers [Blue Annals p. 380ff].^48 The last of the famous Indian pandits came in
the fifteenth century and was a Bengali known as Vanaratna and called by the
Tibetans 'The Last Great Pandit.' He spent several years in Nepal, went to Tibet
and then later returned to Nepal, where he retired to a monastery which still
exists, Gopicandra Mahii.vihii.ra (Pintu Bah!). What is strange about all of these
scholars and siddhas mentioned by the Tibetans is that the Newar Buddhist tra-
dition has retained no memory of any of them. The case of Vanaratna is the most
striking, as a painting of this man was made the year after his death in 1468.
This painting was preserved at Pintu Bah! until 1862 when a copy was made
because the original had become faded. Both paintings have identical inscrip-
tions in Newari explaining who the man was, and in the case of the second
painting, why the new copy was made. Today the earlier painting is in the Los
Angeles County Museum, the later one is in the Bharat Kala Bhavan in Varanasi
and no one in Pintu Bah! has ever heard ofVanaratna.^49
The Malia period (1200-1769) is characterized by much more abundant
information. The early period, down to the end of the reign of Yak~;;a Malia
(1482 AD) presents a picture that is a continuation of the so-called Thakuri
period with references in a variety of sources to viharas and the manuscripts
copied by those who live there. By 1482 we have references to at least forty-four
of the extant monasteries and another seventy-six which no longer exist.^50 There
are an increasing number of references to Vajrii.cii.ryas. The earliest reference to
a Vajriicii.rya who is definitely a native of the Valley comes from a copper-plate
inscription dated 218 NS (1097-8 AD), which refers to one Vajrii.cii.rya Dharma
Sirpha of Vajrasila Mahii.vihii.ra, one of the still extant main bahas of the Acarya-
Giith'i.51 After 1100 AD there are abundant references to Vajriicii.ryas and their
bahiis.
The monks continue to be referred to as bhiksu, sakya-bhiksu or sakya-vaf!lSa
implying descent from the clan of Sii.kya, a claim still made by some of the
Sii.kyas. The term brahmacarya-bhiksu appears for the members of the bah 'is in
Patan. A manuscript of 561 NS ( 1440-41 AD) gives rules for the conduct of the
bare-chuyegu (vandechuya in the text) in a Patan monastery-Varp Biihii., one of
the extant main bahas. It lists the various donations that are to be made at the
time of initiations and specifically states that if any member of the sail.gha has a
son who is of a lower caste (jat'i) than himself (if he is the son of a woman of a
caste lower than bare), the boy is not to be initiated. 52 This is a clear statement
of three facts: the members of the sati.gha are married and have sons, member-
ship in the sati.gha is limited to sons of members, and pure caste status is a pre-
requisite for initiation.
As one moves into the late Malia period, after Y ak:>a Malia one gets further
unequivocal references to married bhiksus. An inscription of 631 NS (151 0-11
AD) refers to one siikya-bhiksu Sri Jyotiraja Pala, his mother Ullii.sa Lak:>ml and
his wife Abhaya Lak:>miY An inscription of 63 5 NS ( 1514-15 AD) refers to one
'brahmacarya-bhiksu Srljakariijajii and his wife Manamayl'.^54 From this time on
there are a large number of such references, usually in inscriptions which record