Documenta Nepalica

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A copy of a lālamohara from King Pṛthvīnārāyaṇa appointing Gosāī̃ Bhagavantanātha as central overseer of jogīs (VS 1827)

ID: K_0469_0009


Edited and translated by Christof Zotter
Created: 2015-09-23; Last modified: 2023-02-20
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Published by Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities: Documents on the History of Religion and Law of Pre-modern Nepal, Heidelberg, Germany, 2017. Published by the courtesy of the National Archives, Kathmandu. The copyright of the facsimile remains with the Nepal Rashtriya Abhilekhalaya (National Archives, Government of Nepal). All use of the digital facsimiles requires prior written permission by the copyright holder. See Terms of Use.
The accompanying edition, translation/synopsis and/or commentary are available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License CCby-SA.

Abstract

This lālahohara from King Pṛthvīnārāyaṇa to Gosāī̃ Bhagavantanātha appoints the addressee as central overseer (maṇḍalāi) of jogīs and authorizes him to receive one ānā as dastura from every household of the groups specified along with juridical fines and escheated property from the jogīs.



Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1⟪10­⟫

1श्री­भगवंतनाथ­•

⟪1रुजु­दुरुस्त­
2ले­भीम्लाल­⟫

1⟪[?]⟫

1स्वस्ति­श्रीगिरिराजचक्रचुडामणिनरनाराय़णेत्यादीवीवीधवीरुरू
2दावलीवीराजमानमानोन्नतश्रीमन्महाराजाधीराजश्रीश्रीश्री
3मत्पृथ्वीनाराय़णसाहदेवानां­सदा­समरवीजय़ीनाम्­¯¯¯¯¯¯
4आगे­गोसाँई­¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯जीके­हाम्रा­मुलुक्‌भरिको­जोगीहरूको­
5मंडलाईँ­चर्‍‍हाञ्यु­•माझी­•कुमाल­•दनुव़ार­•दरोई­•थारू­•पहरि­कुस
6हरि­थामी­•हायु़­•सुनुव़ार­•चेवांग­•ज्वलाहा­•कुसल्या­•नेव़ार्या
7कुमाल­•एती­जातका­घरही­ऐक्‌­एक्­•१|१­आना­दस्तुर­दीनु­•सा
8ज­वीहान­षान­दिनु­•जोगीका­षत्‌छीत्‌को­दंडकुंड­मोरोअ
9पुताली­•महा•मंडलीको­षानु­•मंडलीले­•लीनु­•दुव़ार्या­ऊमराऊ
10को­•षानु­•द्वार्या­ऊमराऊले­लीनु­•ये़स­हीसावले­•द्वारे­ऊमराऊले­तीरा
11ईदीनु­•ईती­सम्वत्‌­१८२७­कार्त्तीक­सुदी­१५­रोज­७­मुकाम­•कांतीपू
12र­राजधानी­शुभम्­¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

Translation

[1r]

101

Venerable Bhagavantanātha2

Attested as correct [by] Le[.] Bhīmlāla3

Assenting that the copy is in accordance with the original, the ḍiṭṭhā of Rānāgāũ Maṭha Tīlaka Bāhādura Cã4

Hail! [A decree] of him who is shining with manifold rows of eulogy [such as] "The venerable crest-jewel of the multitude of mountain kings" and Naranārāyaṇa (an epithet of Kṛṣṇa) etc., high in honour, the venerable supreme king of great kings, the thrice venerable great king, Pṛthvīnārayaṇa Śāha, the divine king always triumphant in war.5

[Regarding] the following: To Gosāī̃--- 6 -jī: We have offered [you] the office of central overseer (maṇḍalāi) of the jogīs throughout our country. Every house of the [following] groups (jāta): mājhīs, kumāles, danuvāras, darāis (text: daroī), thārūs, paharīs, kusaharis, thāmīs, hāyūs, sunuvāras, cepāṅs (text: cevāṃga), julāhās, kusles [and] nevārakumāles7 shall give one, [in figure] 1, ānā [to you] as a customary [yearly] fee (dastura) [and] offer food [to the jogīs] morning and evening. The fines for illicit sexual relation (khatchītko daṇḍakuṇḍa)8 of the jogī [and] the escheated property (i.e. the property of jogīs who die childless), [which] are to be enjoyed (lit. eaten) by the mahāmaṇḍalī, shall be collected by the maṇḍalīs. 9 [What] is to be enjoyed by dvāres and umarāus shall be collected by dvāres and umarāus. In this way, have the dvāres and umarāus arrange [the money] to be paid.

Saturday, the 15th of the bright fortnight of Kārtika of the [Vikrama] era 1827 (1770 CE),10 residence Kathmandu (text: Kāṃtīpūrā), the capital. Auspiciousness.


Commentary

The text of the document published by Naraharinātha VS 2022: 459 and N.R. Panta et al. VS 2025: 1069 has been repeatedly discussed. Unbescheid, mentioning the yearly11 dastura and the obligation to feed the jogīs, merely summarizes the further specifications by saying that Bhagavantanātha was granted the right to collect for the order the property of jogīs who died and any fines of jogīs which may have arisen.12 Véronique Bouillier, who elsewhere discusses a number of later documents showing the direct involvement of Bhagavantanātha’s successors in juridical affairs (see e.g. Bouillier 1991[a]: 164-166), goes a step further and concludes from the present document that the privileges granted to the maṇḍalāi ensured Bhagavantanātha’s “absolute superiority and leadership over the Yogis of his order” (Bouillier 1991[b]: 12). 13

Others have pointed to the involvement of the dvāres and umarāus in raising the dastura and arranging the payment to the maṇḍalāi (N.R. Panta VS 2025: 1069; cf. D.R. Panta 1968: 35). In the follow-up documents, this provision is changed. Although the dvāres and umarāus are still included in the list of addressees the responsibility to collect the money is given to the amālīdāras (see DNA_0014_0050, K_0469_0008 and K_0469_0010; for further details, see Zotter 2018: 454).

Notes

1. This number added at the upper left margin is an archival note, probably the (running) card number in bundle (pokā) 15 of the Gu[ṭhī] Baṃ[dobasta Aḍḍā] records kept in the Guṭhī Saṃsthāna. [⇑]

2. According to Naraharinātha VS 2022: 459 the original also contains the invocations śrīdurgā bhavāni and srīdurgāsahāyaḥ. [⇑]

3. The name is hardly readable here but is more clearly written in a number of other documents in the same bundle (see note 1). The syllable le is followed elsewhere by a middle dot (yielding an abbreviation of a name or title?). [⇑]

4. Most of the letters of the two lines in the left margin and the seal (?) preceding them cannot be deciphered in the available photos. The text is reconstructed on the basis of a similiar note found in other documents; see e.g. K_0669_0008 and K_0669_0010. [⇑]

5. The praśasti does not yet contain the phrase bahādūrasamserjaṅ (brave swordsman) later on standard in the praśastis of the Śāha kings, although Pṛthvīnārayaṇa had this title bestowed on him in the year of the present document, i.e. 1770 CE (cf. D.R.Regmi 2007 (I): 221-223; Pant and Pierce 1989: 13; Krauskopff and Deuel Meyer 2000: 112). [⇑]

6. The addressee’s name, Venerable Bhagavantanātha, written at the blank space above the main text, is to be added here. [⇑]

7. On these groups and their social status, see note 4 in DNA_0014_0050. [⇑]

8. On the term khatchita, see Gaborieau 1977: 253 n. 59. The follow-up documents do not use the genitive marker -ko after khatchit. There, the respective passage could be understood as “[levies collected from] khatchit, daṇḍakuṇḍa …” (cf. M.R. Pant 2002: 80, 88). Furthermore, they add other categories of levies (see DNA_0014_0050, K_0469_0008 and K_0469_0010). In still later records, the term cākacākuī is repeatedly mentioned along with khatchit (see e.g. Naraharinātha VS 2022: 456f.). [⇑]

9. The meaning of the terminology used in this passage is not entirely clear. Is the mahāmaṇḍalī a synonym of maṇḍalāi (cf. DNA_0015_0033, where the mahantamaṇḍalāi, the central overseer of sannyāsīs, occurs as °maṇḍalī), or does it denote, as Unbescheid 1980: 26 interprets, the order or sect, i.e. the community of all jogīs under the jurisdiction of the maṇḍalāi (cf. commentary); the jogī “class”—or as Burghart 1984: 167 calls it “species”—(jāta) mentioned in other documents (see e.g. Naraharinātha VS 2022: 456, 457, 465 and passim)? Similarly, the word maṇḍalī is ambiguous. It can denote a (small) community or “circle,” or else—more probable in the present context—its leader (cf. Parājulī et al. 1995: s.v. maṇḍalī), which in the case of a local community of jogīs would equate to a mahanta or pīra. [⇑]

10. The date corresponds to VS 1827 Kārtika 21 gate (cf. N.R. Panta et al. VS 2025: 1071), 3 November 1770. [⇑]

11. Cf. N.R. Panta et al. VS 2025: 1070. [⇑]

12. "An zweiter Stelle erhielt Bhagavantanātha das Recht, falls ein Yogī stirbt, seine wenige Habe für den Orden zu vereinnahmen, sowie Einnahmen aus eventuellen Bestrafungen für die Sekte zu behalten" (Unbescheid 1980: 26). [⇑]

13. Similarly, N.R. Panta et al. VS 2025: 1069 writes concerning the document: "yasamā bhagavantanāthalāī pṛthvīnārayaṇa śāhakā adhīnakā sārā pradeśakā jogīharūkā nāike banāidieko kurā pareko cha". [⇑]