In this regard, the author of Nepal: Art Treasures form the Himalayas says that “In the second half of the first millennium Nepal came under the influence of a strange religious movement that incorporated ideas of sinister spiritual power, magic forces, necromancy, and a great variety of symbols. Named after its holy scriptures, the Tantra or ‘Warps', it is known as Tantrism. Before the Islamic conquest of North India (13th century) it was to be found above all in Bihar and Behgal, and it was a mixture of Hinduism, especially of Siva worship, and Buddhism beinging about a kind of syncretism between the two religions. This mixture is to be found even today in Nepal, where Buddhists visit Hindu temples and vice versa. In the Buddhist parts of ancient India, the monasteries and religious training college of Nalanda, Vikramsila and Odantapuri in north eastern India were all promoters of Tantrism.”

Tantrism maintains that it is possible to make use of the powers of these terrible gods (such as Bhairava, and other guises of Siva) if one is initiated into certain magic practices. The expert is then able to conjure up deities at will and to ally himself to their powers.

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