Buddhism as practiced by the Newar Buddhist of the Kathmandu Valley has some characteristic features not found in other Buddhist countries. It was the Buddhism of Shakyamuni as it manifested itself in the Himalayan region. Newar Buddhism is to be classified with the tradition of Indian Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism deriving its lineages from Siddha tradition of Nalanda and Vikramashila monastic Universities of India. Buddhism found in Kathmandu Valley represents the oldest continuous form of Buddhism in the world. This traditional Buddhism of Newars has recently become the subject of great interest and detail study by Siegfried Lienhard, John K. Locke, David Gellner, Prof. D. L. Snellgrove, Michael Allen and Prof. Bechert and others. Although some observers professed, as early as the last century, the fast disappearance of this form of Buddhism, but it has provided to be remarkably durable, an important factor in its conservation and social structure.
If we think of current situation of this traditional Buddhism, some observers have felt it very much a pitiful condition. Not being able to cope with the modern situation, here the Shakyas and Bajracharyas have been taking a little interest on their own traditional religion and culture. The Bajracharyas are beginning to neglect taking Acarya Diksha (Master Initiation) resulting in a conspicuous decline in the Buddhist priests. The patrons (Skt. Jajamana), too, pay little respect to these Buddhist priests because of their ignorance of Buddhist doctrine.
Bajracharyas get little remuneration for the services done to their patrons by performing life cycle rituals. Thus, they are compelled to seek various professions. These are the obvious reasons for the decline of traditional Buddhism of Kathmandu Valley. Furthermore, most of the Bahas and Bahis of three illustrious cities, due to the lack of proper conservation, are in ruins and dilapidated condition. In recent times, we see the concrete buildings replacing these Bahas and Bahis. Besides, the rare Buddhist manuscripts for which Nepal takes pride in Buddhist world, are being sold in the common markets for the exorbitant price they are offered. We also see the ancient Buddhist sculptures, Thankas and idols being exported to the foreign markets. To sum up, for all these reasons, scholars began to speculate the fast disappearance of this traditional Buddhism at the end of this century.
The importance of Newars, in South Asian Buddhist history, has been discussed at great length by Dr. Siegfried Lienhard who wrote "Nepal: The Survival of Indian Buddhism in a Himalayan Kingdom". Similarly in 1898 A.D. Prof. Sylvain Levi, who wrote " Le Nepal" discussed about the survival of Sanskrit Buddhism in Kathmandu Valley. He, with the help of Pandit Kulaman Singh of Kvabaha translated into French the Mahayana Sutralankara of Arya Maitreyanatha.
Buddhism disappeared in India. The Theravada tradition flourished in Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand whereas Vajrayana / Mahayana tradition was kept alive in Tibet, China, Japan and Korea.
How Buddhism disappeared in India is yet the subject of great controversy. But how Newars kept VajrayanaBuddhism alive in Kathmandu Valley is an interesting topic in itself. In this paper, I have tried to discuss on the same issue very briefly. | 
