Oriental - Himalayan - The Buddha Image

Preaching Buddha (Gandhara 3rd or 4th century) (modern Pakistan)   Amida Buddha (Japan, 10th or 11th century)   Sittingg Buddha (Tibet, 14th century)   Walking Buddha (Sukothai, 14th or 15th century) (modern Thailand),

Until the end of the first century AD, the Buddha was represented only in symbols.

During the first century, Buddhism divided into two movements. The newer movement, called Mahayana (the Great Vehicle), as opposed to the older Hinayana (the Lesser Vehicle), deified the Buddha and provided him with a host of "saints" (Bodhisattvas).

Symbols were not suited to the pageantry of the new faith which demanded a human figure as its focus.

The Buddha image developed simultaneously in two places, Gandhara and Mathura.

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Oriental - Himalayan

Tibetan bronze Buddhist lama

The earliest known settlers in Nepal were the Newaris. who settled in the main Kathmandu valley. Their origins are not known but racially they show affinities to the Mongolians. In the third century AD, the Licchavis, a tribe from what is now the Bihar state in India conquered Nepal and introduced a strong Indian cultural influence.

In about 879 AD, a Newari king, Raghavadeva, came to power. The Newari rule lasted until 1324 when the Indians of the Malla dynasty, fleeing from Muslim invaders, overran Nepal. The Mall dynasty ruled until 1678 when it was overthrown by the Gurkha clans of Western Nepal. Descendants of these Gurkhas still rule Nepal.

  

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