Documenta Nepalica

Published by Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities: Documents on the History of Religion and Law of Pre-modern Nepal, Heidelberg, Germany, 2022. 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.
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Commentary

This is a note from Garuḍadhvaja Pā̃ḍe ordering two aḍais to provide wheat to Ratnaprabhā, whose mother, Sunā Dvāryā, was likely a door attendant in some part of the royal palace. The term dvāre has multiple meanings any of which might apply here. If the meaning of revenue functionary or village headman is meant, Sunā Dvāryā could have been an official assigned perhaps to in or around Lubhu. However, the remaining nine documents of this series relate to grants of wheat to servants in the royal household complex. Thus, Sunā Dvāryā was likely a gate attendant within the Hanumānḍhokā complex. The term ‘gate attendant’, a direct translation of dvāryā, does not necessarily appropriately convey the scope of a dvāryā’s job. Rather than simply stand at the gate, dvāryās—particularly in the women’s quarters—more probably also served as messengers. They perhaps also had other roles in organizing the workings of the sizeable women’s quarters. Though we cannot be sure, the long ā in Sunā likely indicates a woman.

This is one of ten documents (E_2778_0001 to E_2778_0010) recording the distribution of wheat to various people working within the Hanumānḍhokā palace complex. All the directives date to VS 1878 and relate to the wheat crop on Lubhu serā land in that year.

At least as early as VS 1864 (see DNA_0012_0055), palace servants were annually given 1 murī 10 pāthīs of wheat from the annual yields of the lands comprising the Lubhu serā. The amount covered four months of food. With the additional 15 pāthīs allocated to Ratnaprabhā, she too thus received a total of 1 murī 10 pāthīs in VS 1878.

Savāla 3 of RRC_0024_0776, laying out Bhoṭu Pā̃ḍe’s duties as kaparadāra in VS 1859, confirms that the kaparadāra was responsible for ascertaining the amount of foodgrains that palace servants received. Garuḍadhvaja Pā̃ḍe appears to be fulfilling that duty here. The ten directives were issued over the course of three months from Jeṭh to Bhadau. Ascertaining the amount of foodgrains that individual palace servants received was, therefore, not a task concluded in parallel. Rather, the amounts were reviewed and confirmed serially.

Garuḍadhvaja was kaparadāra from the early VS 1870s till the early 1890s. He was a son of the former kaparadāra Bhoṭu Pā̃ḍe (see Pā̃de Chetrī 1977: 246). Though the authority to ascertain amounts rested with the kaparadāra, the orders were carried out by two aḍais, Rājabala Ḍoṭyāla and Ramānātha Pādhyā. Aḍais were employed at the Koṭa Bhaṇḍāra, which managed the stores of foodstuffs within the royal palace complex. Each serā was also put under the management of one or a pair of aḍais.2 Outside the current ten documents, Rājabala Ḍoṭyāla appears again in relation to Lubhu serā [land] in VS 1880 in E_2764_0046.

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Notes