History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c22.s1.16.3

v1.c22.s1.16.3

It is pertinent to note that this Amśuvarman and his successors call themselves in the beginning of their inscriptions पशुपतिभट्टारकापदानुगृहीत i. e. favoured by the feet of Lord Paśupati while the first four inscriptions do not contain this epithet. The Lord Paśupati was certainly there before Amśuvarman. For Hiuen Tsang describing the people of Nepal says, "The people are rude and deceitful and ugly in appearance; but skilled mechanics (a true description of the Mongolian peoples). They believed both the false and true religions, Buddhist monasteries and Deva temples touching each other". We may, therefore, be sure that Paśupati was already there but the kings were usually Buddhists and sometimes Vaishnavites. Whatever be the reason, Amśuvarman established himself as paramount Sāmanta and was a worshipper of Paśupati. The other epithet बप्पपादानुध्यात occurs in all inscriptions both in Amśuvarman’s as in the previous ones dated in Vikrama Samvat. It seems that Bappa was the name or an epithet of the founder of the royal family of Licchavis, which was mentioned with reverence by all, like that of Sivaji Chhatrapati mentioned both by the Peshwas and the Satara kings. Another similarity to the later parallel may be found in the fact that while the Licchavi kings issue their edicts from Mānagriha, Amśuvarman and his successors issue them from Kailasakūta.