Documenta Nepalica

Documents on the History of Religion and Law of Pre-modern Nepal
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A rukkā from King Pratāpasiṃha requesting a supply of sugandharāja flowers from the amālidāra of Patan (VS 1832)

ID: DNA_0013_0071


Edited and translated by Astrid Zotter in collaboration with Christof Zotter
Created: 2014-08-16; Last modified: 2018-06-21
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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

As his bhitrenī desires to offer one hundred thousand sugandharāja flowers to Guhyeśvarī, this rukkā of King Pratāpasiṃha orders the amālidāra of Patan to collect flowers from his district and deliver them to the court of Kathmandu.



Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1श्रीदुर्गासहाय­\

1श्रीगुह्येस्वरि­

[royal seal]

1स्वस्ति­श्रीमन्महाराजधिराजकस्य­रुक्का­¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
2आगे­•पाटंका­अमालिदार­•प्रति­•भित्र्यानिवाट­¯ ¯ ¯कन­शुकंधराज
3को­फुल्­•येक­लाष­•अर्पं­भयाको­छ­•तिंम्रा­अंवलमहा­जति­शुकंदरा
4जको­फुल्‌­छ­•टिपाई­•गनाई­•जति­जति­हुंछ­लेषासित­काठमाडौ­दर्वा
5र­•दुवार्याछेउ­ल्याउ­•सर्वथा­इति­सम्वत्­१८३२­आषड­शुदि­८­रोज­५­शुभं­

[1v]

1⟪२७९⟫

1⟪(३४)⟫

1⟪३८०⟫

1मोहनमुथा­

Translation

[1r]

[May] venerable Durgā help [us]!

Venerable Guhyeśvarī (text: Guhyesvari)

Hail. [This is] an executive order (rukkā) of the supreme king of great kings.

To the amālidāra of Patan.

[My] bhitrenī1 has vowed to make an offering of one hundred thousand sugandharāja (text: śukaṃdharāja) flowers to - - - (i.e. Venerable Guhyeśvarī). Pluck and count however many sugandharāja (text: śukaṃdarāja) flowers there are in your district (ambala) [and] bring [them] by all means together with an account stating how many [there are] to the gatekeeper (dvāre, text: duvāryā) of Kathmandu Palace (darabāra).

Thursday, the 8th of the bright fortnight of Āṣāḍha [in the Vikrama] era year 1832 (1775 CE). Auspiciousness.

[1v]

278

(34)

3802

[signature:] Mohanamuthā


Commentary

The document has previously been edited together with a rendering into modern Nepali by D.R. Panta 1968: 28. Panta explains that the bhitrenī, which he renders as "queen" (rānīsaheba) had made the pledge (bhākala) to offer the flowers. When texts prescribe the offering of flowers in auspiciously large numbers, such as one thousand or one hundred thousand, this may at first sight appear hyperbolic (Zotter 2013: 319-20), but as the present document shows such offerings are indeed literally put into ritual practice. In the current practice, the offering of a lakh of flowers actually often comprises 125,000 (savālākha) counted items. Such offerings are usually spread out over a longer period, with the pledge stated in a formal ritual commitment (saṃkalpa) during the first act of offering. Separate individual offerings of fresh flowers follow until the required number is fulfilled.

Notes

1. The term bhitrenī (text: bhitryāni) usually refers to a kept wife (lyāitā) rather than to an officially married wife (vivāhitā) of the king. Usually, full queens, i.e. those married according to a formal marriage ritual (vivāha), are called Mahārānīs and are distinguished by the usual seniority markers being applied to them, i.e. jyeṭhā, kānchā and the terms in between; cf. DNA_0002_0029, mentioning King Surendra's second queen as Sāhilā Baḍāmahārānī. According to C. Buyers (http://www.royalark.net/Nepal/nepal6.htm), Pratāpasiṃha's third spouse was called "Rani Bhitryani Devi." Although so far we have found no corroborating evidence for this, she may be the person the present document refers to. If this is indeed the case, the term bhitryāni could be interpreted in her case as a quasi-personal name rather than as a mere status label, since it is conceivable that Pratāpasiṃha indeed had only one official bhitrenī, so that, regardless of what her real name was, she had come to be known by that term. That royal bhitrenīs were held in high esteem and were ranked according to seniority is also testified to in the documents. For example, the youngest bhitrenī of King Raṇabahādura, who followed her husband into death in VS 1863 (1816 CE), on the 15th of the bright fortnight of Vaiśākha, was reverentially referred to by this king's grandson King Rājendra as śrīkānchā bhitryāni bajyājyūḥ (“Venerable Grandmother, the Youngest bhitrenī”) in a document from VS 1893 (1836 CE) recording a donation by Rājendra in order to fulfil a commitment (saṃkalpa) made at the time when she became a satī (DNA_0013_0086). In other documents Rājendra's "śrīsā̇̇hilā bhitryāni bajyājyūḥ" (VS 1891 [1834 CE], DNA_0012_0026) and "śrīmāhilā bhitryāni bajyājyū" (VS 1892 [1835 CE], DNA_0014_0086) are referred to. Reference by Raṇabahādura himself to his spouses seems to have been less honorific, as testified by the addressee of a rukkā of VS 1854 (1797 CE) being called "kānchī bhitryāni" (DNA_0014_0071), i.e. without prefixing śrī to the name and using the feminine singular rather than the honorific plural. [⇑]

2. This number, added by a second hand, refers to the ms. no. given by the National Archives, Kathmandu. [⇑]