Page:Picturesque Nepal.djvu/77

 permit, the state of India before Islam had imprinted its indelible mark on almost every aspect of its life. The manners and customs of the people, their religion, arts and industries, the towns and the country, are practically the same as they were ten centuries ago. Unaffected by any foreign influences, undisturbed by the transitions which have taken place in the outer world, Nepal, protected by its natural position, presents an ideal picture of the Middle Ages—the Middle Ages of the East.

The story of Nepal is therefore the story of the Newars, and these people have written it profusely on every building of any importance in the valley. Apart from the ancient Sanskrit inscriptions with which the country abounds, it is, in its pictorial form, cut in stone or carved in wood, embossed in brass or cast in bronze, painted on plaster or moulded in terra-cotta, on a thousand and one shrines within the borders of the State. But even with this wealth of material the story is not easy to read, and needs some explanation. The national religion of the Newars is