Documenta Nepalica

Documents on the History of Religion and Law of Pre-modern Nepal

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A purjī from C-in-C Deva Śamśera instructing the Guṭhī Kharca Aḍḍā to disburse funds to the Pūrṇeśvarapākaśālā on the occasion of Baḍādasaĩ (VS 1955)

ID: K_0614_0041

Edited and translated by Astrid Zotter
Created: 2018-10-15; Last modified: 2019-08-29
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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, 2019. 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

Abstract

In this purjī Commander-in-Chief General Deva Śamśera directs the secretary (kharidāra) of the Gūṭhī Kharca Aḍḍā, Candra Bāhādura Śāha, to record customary sums for purchasing six gelded goats together with spices, ghee, oil and salt to feed the poor on the occasion of the Baḍādasaĩ festival in VS 1955 at the Pūrṇeśvarapākaśālā.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1⟪101⟫

1श्री•२

1श्री३सर्कार
2१

1श्रीपुर्णश्वर
2२

1श्रीजगनंन्दप्रकासेश्वर
2३

1स्वस्तिश्रीमद्राजकुमारकुमारात्मजश्रीकम्यांडरइनचिफजनरलदेवसम्सेरजङ्गराणावाहा
2दुरकस्य•थापाथलि¯ ¯ १¯तर्फगुठीषर्चअडाकाषरीदारचन्द्रवाहादुर•साहकेपुर्जीउप्रान्त
3¯ ¯ २¯पाकासाला•माडरीयाकागरिपकंगाल्‌हरुलाईहालवडाडसैमामासु•ष्वाउनालाई
4सावीक५४साल•कावडाडसैमागयावमोजिम्‌•षसी६रमसलाघ्यूतेलनुन्‌•स्मेतके
5ज्मामोहरू२७सम्म¯ ३¯ ¯कागुठी•कास्याहामा•षचलेषीदिनेकामगरइतीसम्वत१९५५
6सालमितिकातिक•वदि१०रोज४शुभ्म्¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

Translation

[1r]

[no.] 1011

Śrī

Śrī 3 Sarkāra – 1

Śrī Pūrṇeśvara – 2

Śrī Jaṅgānandaprakāśeśvara – 3

Hail! A purjī of the venerable Commander-in-Chief General Deva Samsera Jaṅga Rāṇā Bāhādura, a venerable prince born of a prince, to Candra Bāhādura Śāha, the secretary (kharidāra) of the Guṭhī Kharca Aḍḍā under [Śrī 3 Sarkāra]2 [of] Thāpāthali.

Uprānta: In order to feed meat during the upcoming Baḍādasaĩ at the kitchen (pākaśālā) of [Śrī Pūrṇeśvara]3 to the poor people enrolled [as eligible to receive meals there], carry out the task of writing down in the account book (syāhā) of the [Śrī Jaṅgānandaprakāśeśvara]4 guṭhī expenses of up to a total of 27 mohararupaiyā̃s (text: moharū) for 6 gelded goats including spices, ghee, oil and salt, in accord with what transpired in the previous Baḍādasai of the year [18]54.

Wednesday, the 10th of the dark lunar fortnight of Kārtika in the [Vikrama] era year 1955 (1898 CE). Auspiciousness.

Commentary

The document orders the disbursement of customary funds to the Pūrṇeśvarapākaśālā for buying food stuffs for preparing a special meal containing goat meat on the occasion of the Dasaĩ festival. It refers back to the previous year, VS 1954, as precedent for this arrangement. This previous document has yet to be located, but a batch of successor documents survives for the years: VS 1957 (K_0608_0055), 1960 (K_0660_0052), 1961 (K_0664_0017), 1962 (K_0667_0036), 1967 (K_0488_0009, K_0488_0012), 1968 (K_0382_0029), 1969 (K_0384_0064) and 1970 (K_0395_0041, K_0395_0049).

Notes

1. This number was added by a later hand using Arabic numerals. It refers to the position of the document in the bundle (pokā) number 10 of the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā under Śrī 3 Sarkāra (cf. registration number on the catalogue card). [⇑]

2. Inserted from the space numbered 1 above. [⇑]

3. Inserted from the space numbered 2 above. [⇑]

4. Inserted from the space numbered 3 above. [⇑]

Glossary

Word	Notes
baḍā dasaĩ	var. baḍā dasai; also mahā dasaĩ; n. festival to worship the goddess Durgā as slayer of the buffalo demon, held over the bright half of the autumn month of Āśvina. Cf. dasaĩ / daśaĩ.
dasaĩ / daśaĩ	[fr. S. daśāha] var. dasai; n. festival to worship the goddess Durgā as slayer of the buffalo demon, held over the bright half of the autumn month of Āśvina (baḍā dasaĩ) and, on a smaller scale, over the bright half of the spring month of Caitra (caite dasaĩ).
guṭha / guṭhi / guṭhī	[fr. S. goṣṭhī] var. guṭh, guthi; n. 1) a socio-religious organization that manages and finances religious and charitable functions, a trust. 2) “endowed lands or other sources of revenue for financing religious and charitable functions“ (M.R. Pant 2002: 132; cf. M.C. Regmi 1988: 267).
Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā	var. Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍā; n. "Guthi Administration Office", office responsible for the management of guṭhīs; established under Jaṅga Bahādura Rāṇā in 1852-1853 as replacement of the former Guṭhī Kacaharī. Its foundation marks the change from the guṭhīyāri system of the guṭhī management to the contractor based system; remained the central office to coordinate all offices subsequently established for handling different aspects of guṭhī management, including the Guṭhī Kharca Aḍḍā and others. Separate Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍās managed the śrī 5 sarkāra guṭhīs and the śrī 3 sarkāra guṭhīs (cf. M.C. Regmi 1978: 713-715).
Guṭhī Kharca Aḍḍā	n. office responsible for managing the expenses of the guṭhīs working under the head of the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā; two separate Guṭhī Kharca Aḍḍās managed the śrī 5 sarkāra guṭhīs and the śrī 3 sarkāra guṭhīs.
kharadāra / kharidāra	[fr. P.] var. kharīdāra, ṣaridāra; n. secretary, official scribe, office superintendent (cf. Kumar 1967: 166).
mohararupaiyā̃	var. mohararupaiyām, mohararūpaiyā, moharaṭaṃkā (New.); often abbreviated as moru, morū, moharu, moharū, moharru, mohorru; n. monetary unit based on and equivalent to two eight-anna silver coins (moharas); in calculations usually broken down into four sukās, 16 ānās or 64 paisās (cf. Pant and Pierce 1989: 93) or 256 dāmas; the exchange ratio with paisās was calculated differently at different times and in different parts of the kingdom, depending on the relative values of silver and copper, ranging between 52 and 80 paisās (Regmi 1982: 73). In documents sums are represented in four numerical fractions, with the rupaiyā represented by numbers; the sukās by one to three daṇḍas or the avagraha sign representing zero; the ānās by one to three diagonal dashes, sometimes as a loop with two or three jags; the paisās again by daṇḍas or numbers; the dāmas by numbers or horizontal dashes.
pākaśālā	[S.] var. pākasālā; n. 1) kitchen. 2) public kitchen set up to feed the poor and needy (K_0351_0071).
purjī	[fr. P. purja] var. purji, pūrjī; n. 1) slip of paper, note. 2) formal letter written by a government institution or an official to another institution or to a person.
śrī	[S.] n. word of blessing, can be used as apprecatio, in which case it means 'good fortune' (Pant and Pierce 1989: 12), can be used as a prefix to names of persons and gods, in which case it means 'venerable' or 'glorious' respectively. The number of śrīs used varies, depending on context.
śrī 3 sarkāra	lit. "three-times venerable ruler"; title used by the Rāṇā prime ministers (cp. Whelpton 2005: 266).
uprānta	var. uprāṃta, ūprāṃnta, ūprā̃nta, prāṃta; also yathocita uprānta; conj. after that, besides, in addition to, hereafter. In earlier prose and official documents, this word marked the beginning of a text or paragraph. It has no equivalent in English (Clark 1989: 231). In some (mostly Rāṇā period?) documents, it takes the form of yathocita uprānta.