Documenta Nepalica

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

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A purjī written by the Guṭhī Jā̃ca Aḍḍā to the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā regarding the disappearance of a gold item at Bhaktapur's Taleju temple (VS 1981)

ID: K_0213_0036

Edited and translated by Ramhari Timalsina
Created: 2024-06-08; Last modified: 2024-12-03
For the metadata of the document, click here

Published by Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities: Documents on the History of Religion and Law of Pre-modern Nepal, Heidelberg, Germany, 2024. 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

This purjī, written by the Guṭhī Jā̃ca Aḍḍā to the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā, addresses the disappearance of a sheet of gold forming part of the throne in Bhaktapur's Taleju temple and a claim, later invalidated, that it had not been replaced.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1श्री\

1[A seal of the Guṭhī Jā̃ca Aḍḍā with the legend:] श्रीगुठीजाचअडा

1श्री५सर्कारतर्फगुठीजाच•अडा•
2वाट

1ऐवन्दोवस्त•अडाके

1पुर्जि
2भादगाउश्रीतलेज्यू•राजभयेको•सुन•कोसींहासन•को•सुन्कोतुक्रा•दुर्गाचरण•कोपा
3लामाहरायाको[?]भर्नाराषेकोछैन•भन्ये•जोग•वाहादुर•कावीन्तिपत्र•वमोजीं•जाचपठा
4उनुभन्या•पुर्जिसाथ•पठायाका•वींतिपत्र•वमोजींजाचगर्नजादा•सोहरायाकासुन•स्मेत
5भर्ना•भै•सींहासन्‌•साबुदछभन्या•तिनैजोगवाहादुर•र•सोहीगुठीकामानीस•पुजारीना
6ईके•इन्द्र•राज्यौपाध्या•स्मेत•जना•४ले•स्मेत्•ले८१सालश्राव़ण२४गतेकागत•गरी•
7दीयेकोहुनाले•तपसील्कामिसील•र•नीज•दुर्गाचरण•स्मेत•पठाईदीयेकोछ•बुझीभर्पाई
8पठाईअैनसवालवमोजींगर्नेकाम्‌भयावेशहोला
9तपसील्‌

[table1]

1	तोकनम्वर•१६२४कोवीन्तिपत्र•जोगवाहादुरलेचढाउलाअैनअमानत्‌•व मोजीं१।७भंन्या८१साल•आषाढ१९।४कोस्मेत्‌•कोवीन्तिपत्र¯¯¯¯	१
2	गुठीवं•दोवस्तवाटयसजाचलाईलेषेकोश्राव़ण१•मीति•को•सीट्‌वन्दीज वाफसमेत्‌भयाकोप्रति¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯	१
3	वीन्तिपत्र•नीक्सारीवाट•वन्दोवस्त•लाईलेषेको८१सालश्राव़ण३गतेको प्रति¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯	१
4	जोगवाहादुर•कर्माचार्य्येको८१सालश्राव़ण•२३ । ४कोमुचुल्का¯¯¯¯	१
5	नाईके•इन्द्र•राजराजौपाध्यास्मेत्‌•को८१साल•श्रावण२४ । ५कोमु •चुल्का¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯	१
6	तारीषकोभर्पाई¯¯¯¯	१

10इतिसम्वत्‌१९८१साल्‌श्राव़ण गतेरोज शुभम्‌¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ [unknown seal]

Translation

[1r]

Śrī

[A seal of the Guṭhī Jā̃ca Aḍḍā with the legend:] Guṭhī Jāca Aḍā

A purjī from the Guṭhī Jā̃ca Aḍḍā of Śrī 5 Sarkāra to the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā of the same [Śrī 5 Sarkāra]

Regarding the golden component of the throne on which the Bhaktapur Śrī Taleju sits, which was lost during the priesthood of Durgācaraṇa: Jogabahādura's petition claimed that it had not been replaced. In accordance with the order of a purjī to carry out an investigation following the petition, an investigation was conducted and it was found that the lost gold had been replaced and the throne is intact. The investigation included the participation of Jogabahādura, people from the same guṭhī and the head priest, Indra Rājaupādhyā—4 people in total. They signed a [muculkā] document on the 24th of Śrāvaṇa in the year 81. Based on this, the following details and documents, including [those related to] Durgācaraṇa, are being sent. Please acknowledge receipt and proceed according to the legal provisions mentioned in the Ain and savālas.

Details:

[table]

	The petition submitted by Joga Bahādura, identified as toka number 1624, promising that he will pay 1.7 [mo ru as a penalty] as per the law and amānata, dated Wednesday the 19th day of Āṣāḍha in the [Vikrama era] year [19]81	1
	A copy of the [letter] together with a sealed reply written by the Guṭhī Bandobasta to this [Guṭhī] Jā̃ca [Aḍḍā] dated the 1st day of Śrāvaṇa	1
	A copy of the [letter] written by the Bintipatra Niksārī to the [Guṭhī] Bandobasta dated the 3rd day of Śrāvaṇa in the [Vikrama era] year [19]81	1
	A muculkā of Joga Bāhādura Karmācāryye dated Wednesday the 23rd day of the Śrāvaṇa in the [Vikrama era] year [19]81	1
	A muculkā [signed by] including the [priest] leader Indrarāja Rājaupādhyā dated Thursday the 24th day of the Śrāvaṇa in the [Vikrama era] year [19]81	1
	[Acknowledgement of] receipt of the assigned date [of appearance before the Guṭhī Jā̃ca Aḍḍā]	1

[...] day, the [...]1 day (gate) in the [Vikrama] era year 1981 (1925 CE). Auspiciousness.

[Unknown seal]

Commentary

For more information about the Taleju temple, see the Commentary in K_0213_0039.

The document K_0213_0039 is the muculkā of Joga Bāhādura Karmācāryye dated Wednesday the 23rd day of the Śrāvaṇa mentioned in this document.

Notes

1. The space for the number indicating the weekday and the day of the month has been left blank in the document. [⇑]

Glossary

Word	Notes
ain	var. āin, aina; n. 1) laws, statutes, rules, regulations enacted by authority 2) law-code of Nepal, first promulgated in 1854 during the rule of Jaṅga Bahādura Rāṇā and amended several times before it was completely revised in VS 2022. The revised law-code was renamed as Mulukī Ain.
amānata	[fr. A.] n. 1) managment or revenue collection by a government office, or by an agency empowered by the government (M.C. Regmi 1978: 853; cf.: M.C. Regmi 1978: 225 ; M.C. Regmi 1978: 161 ; Adhikari 1984: 344; Michael 2012: 129). 2) a system under which revenue was collected, or sources of revenue exploited, on government account by salaried employees (M.C. Regmi 1988: 265).
Bintipatra Niksārī	n. office responsible for handling applications.
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, Guṭhi 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 Jā̃ca Aḍḍā	n. an institution serving an oversight function within the state’s supervision of local guṭhī management, for example in matters relating to tender arrangements.
muculkā / mucalakā	var. mucalakā; n. a witnessed written statement.
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.
savāla	n. 1) an enquiry. 2) a set of directives issued especially for the administrative purposes. Contrary to a sanada which is applicable to general public, a savāla refers to rules within a particular organization or an administrative unit (see Siṃha 1981 sv svāla. 3) rules and regulations enacted based on an existing law; administrative regulations (Adhikari 1984: 356; Karmacharya 2001: 328).
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 5 sarkāra	lit. "five-times venerable ruler"; commonly used to refer to the Śāha king (cp. Whelpton 2005: 266) and often indistinctively to his government (Lecomte-Tilouine 2015).
toka	var. tok; n. decision, sanction.