The Vishnu temple on the ridge above Bhaktapur, and the place where the written history of the country begins: Manadeva's Sanskrit pillar inscription of 464 (his reign 464-505) is the oldest dated record in Nepal.
Wikipedia says the temple 'was built in the 4th century' (a tradition) and tells the legend of the Brahmin Sudarshan and the cow. The standing building belongs to a later age (the page dates the temple's idols to about 1704 and records nothing for the twelfth and thirteenth centuries), so in 1200 the pillar and an earlier temple stand. Its endowments and Licchavi land grants are the deepest documentary root any institution on this part of the campaign board has.
Who holds it
- Name
- Not named for 1200
- Title
- The priests of Changu Narayan
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
Nothing names a custodian for the twelfth century.
How things stand that morning
Open; no event is dated.
Wealth
Endowed land and offerings.
Military
No army is recorded and no number is known.
Patron
The Licchavi kings and their successors; the king at Bhaktapur.
Estates
The Licchavi land grants named in the inscription (extent not given here).
Places of note
- Changu Narayan: Temple and pillar.
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The pillar is certain; the temple's age is a tradition and the building of 1200 is not described.
On the map: A point.
Primary sources for Nepal valley
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Gopala Raja Chronicle, and the Nepalese colophons, Anonymous (chronicle); various scribes (colophons) (the chronicle about 1389; the colophons are contemporary notes of the 11th to 14th centuries). The Nepal valley in 1200 is known chiefly from dated manuscript colophons and short inscriptions, which name the reigning king with the Nepal era year, and from the Gopalarajavamsavali, a chronicle written about 1389 that lists the kings with regnal years.
- History of Buddhism in India and Tibet, Buton Rinchen Drub (Bu ston Rin chen grub) (1322). Optional background. Read online
- The Blue Annals, Go Lotsawa Zhonnu Pal ('Gos lo tsa ba gZhon nu dpal) (1476 to 1478). The fullest Tibetan account of who mattered around 1200, written three centuries later from earlier biographies and lineage records, many now lost. Read online
- The Sakya genealogy, and the works of the Sakya hierarch of 1200, Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen (Grags pa rgyal mtshan) and Sakya Pandita; the genealogy by Ngawang Kunga Sonam (the hierarchs' writings about 1170 to 1250; the genealogy 1629). Sakya in 1200 was ruled by Jetsun Drakpa Gyaltsen, the third of the five founders, with his nephew Kunga Gyaltsen (later Sakya Pandita, born 1182) under his teaching. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.