Inner Asia: The Art of Nepal II: Newar Buddhist Art
After several of the early Buddhas had visited the lake to do puja, Maha
Manjusri came from Mahacina with his two wives to do puja and take darshan
at the site. After viewing the lake from some of the surrounding mountain
tops, Manjusri decided that the tirthas and other holy places of pilgrimage
in the valley were too hard for ordinary persons to visit. He therefore
decided to drain the lake and, after measuring the lake with his arrow,
cut a gorge at Chobar which allowed the lake to drain (The actual site of
the probable drainage is further south.).
NOTE: the geology of the valley is such that it is generally agreed that
there really was a lake in the valley at some early date. That fact and
the parallel story of the "Descent of the Ganges" as known in
Indian mythology suggests that there was a real event sometime about 1000
to ca 500 b.c.e. during which something (probably an earthquake) caused
the valley to catastrophically drain.
Once the valley had drained, the tirthas and holy places were all accessible
to humanity for pilgrimage and devotional practices. The great lotus that
emitted the Swayambhu Jyotirupa, however, no longer had water to support
it and therefore came to rest on Gosingu Parvat ("Cow's rump mountain")
where it remained for all to see.
