ABSTRACT
More recently Vilsavajra's text has received some increased attention, in good part as a result of growing interest in the development of tantric Buddhism. For while Buddhism was doing well as an export product to Central, East and Southeast Asia, and was also beginning to make inroads into Tibet, at home it was under threat. Alexis Sanderson has demonstrated that the religious tradition to receive the most royal patronage during the period between the late eighth and the early-to-mid ninth centuries was aivism. Its dominance resulted in Buddhism adopting and adapting aspects of tantric aivism. Majur continued to be a significant figure in early medieval Indian tantric Buddhism. The evidence of the NMAA and related Nmasagti literature, particularly the exegetical work of Majurmitra, Vilsavajra's probable senior contemporary, suggests there was a strong interest, at least in one strand of tradition, in making Majur the principal tantric deity.
