Nāropa transmitted this Vajrayoginī practice to two Nepalese disciples known as the Phamthing brothers. Their names were, on some accounts, Abhayakirti and Vagindrakirti—in Tibetan, Jigme Dragpa and Ngawang Dragpa.

By the eleventh century, the Kathmandu Valley had become an important location for Dharma study and transmission, and it was home to several scholars and translators who had arrived from India or who had gone there from Tibet to study. The brother commonly known as Phamthingpa, meaning the one from Phamthing, perhaps the elder brother, studied with Nāropa for nine years in India. He went on to become one of the great teachers of his day. Marpa Lotsawa, Nāropa’s most famous disciple and a founder of the Kagyu order, is said to have stayed for a time with a certain Phamthingpa, who encouraged him to travel to India in order to meet Nāropa.