I am sorry for Google translate:
"...given that Nepal was cut off from normal cultural connections with the rest of India in the early 13th century by the Muslim invasion of Bengal and Bihar, it can be assumed that by the time of the extensive Muslim conquests this form of hilt was already widespread throughout culturally and religiously unified India. Returning to Nepalese sculpture, it should be noted that during the Muslim conquest of Bihar and Bengal at the beginning of the 13th century, as a result of the total extermination of Hindus and especially Brahmins, the latter fled to Nepal in such numbers that for a time they began to be perceived as a separate ethnic group. Even if by this time Nepal did not have the weapons typical of Northern India of that period, as a result of these events they should have appeared there. There is a very interesting and characteristic analogy here. At the end of the 18th century, a rebellion known as the rebellion of sannyasins and fakirs broke out in Bihar and Bengal against the oppression of the British administration. After the suppression of the uprising, the ascetics went to Nepal, settled there and also began to be perceived as a separate caste. As a result, Nepal ended up with so many weapons of Indian origin from the 17th and 18th centuries that this circumstance still puzzles researchers.
This assumption can also be confirmed by illustrations to the Buddhist treatise “Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita” (“Eight Thousand Prajnaparamita”), created in Bihar or Bengal at the end of the 12th century and transferred to Nepal at the beginning of the 13th century, apparently also as a result of the above events..."
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