While Nepalese history does not have any record of Arniko and everything that is known of him comes from Chinese accounts, Chinese history and historian Baburam Acharya opines that Arniko could possibly be from Patan, a place famous for sculptures and fine arts.
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The event that brought Arniko to Tibet, and eventually to the Mongol court, was Kublai Khan's decree of 1260 CE to Drogön Chögyal Phagpa, the fifth patriarch of Sakya sect of Tibetan Buddhism, to build a golden stupa for Suer chi wa (Tibetan: "Chos rje pa" or "the Lord of Dharma"), that is the Sakya Pandita Kun dga' rgyal mtshan (1182–1251), the fourth patriarch of the sect.
Tibetan Buddhist architecture has long been influenced by Nepalese artists and sculptors like Araniko.
Araniko |