The temple of Pashupati, tutelary lord of the whole country, on the Bagmati with the priestly town of Deopatan round it.
Wikipedia records the temple as early as 400 (the infobox says the fifth century); the Gopalarajavamsavali credits a Licchavi king, Prachanda Deva, with building it, and another chronicle credits a Supushpa Deva with a five-storey temple on a lingam shrine. The page says Shivadeva (1099-1126) reconstructed the temple, so what stands in 1200 is Shivadeva's building, not the one visitors see: Ananta Malla added a roof and a fourteenth-century Rama temple was built round the two-storey temple, and the present form dates from a renovation of 1692, after termites and earthquakes had damaged the earlier structures. The Guhyeshwari temple is named in an eleventh-century manuscript.
Kings take their legitimacy from Pashupati: a claimant who cannot get the shrine to acknowledge him has a problem no army fixes (the campaign board).
Who holds it
- Name
- No named priest for 1200
- Title
- The Bhatta priests of Pashupati
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
Wikipedia: daily rites are done by the Bhatta priests, the only ones permitted to touch the lingam; Rajbhandaris are helpers and caretakers who may not perform the puja.
How things stand that morning
Open; the building of Shivadeva stands.
Wealth
Offerings and endowed land.
Military
No army is recorded and no number is known.
Patron
The valley kings; Shivadeva (1099-1126) is the last named builder before 1200.
Estates
Land and offerings; not itemised.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1201 or later (the page gives no date for Ananta Malla)Ananta Malla adds a roof, and a fourteenth century Rama temple is built round the temple.Depends on: A king who can afford the work. Stopped by: Given only as later work; Shivadeva's building stands in 1200.
Places of note
- Pashupatinath temple: The temple on the Bagmati.
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board says Shivadeva rebuilt the temple 'in the first quarter of the twelfth century'; Wikipedia gives his reign as 1099-1126, which agrees.
Evidence: Wikipedia's Pashupatinath page, with the campaign board; dates are chronicle dates.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
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.