A copy of a patra from the Śrīnātha Kampu Daphadarakhānā acknowledging receipt of a contractual payment for the military unit in Phedāp through Makunda Siṃ Rāī (VS 1882)
ID: E_3420_0006
Edited and
translated by Julia Shrestha
Created: 2025-01-14;
Last modified: 2025-11-18
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Abstract
This document, issued by the Śrīnātha Kampu Daphadarakhānā, acknowledges receipt of a contractual payment collected by Maṃjita Rāī and submitted by an intermediary, Makunda Siṃ Rāī, for disbursement to the troops in Phedāp in Pallo Kirāta.Diplomatic edition
[1r]
1४1श्री\1स्वस्तिश्रीनाथकंपुकादफरदषानाकस्यदफदरषानाकस्यपत्रम्2आगेदर्दमध्येभर्नापल्लोकिरातचैनपुरमध्ये
3फेदापकोठेक८२सालकोमार्फतमंजितराईहस्तेमकुन्दसिं
4राईमोहोररूपैयादुईसयेसाढेसत्ताउंन्न२५७॥तहविल
5दषिलभयोतस्कोरसिदगरिदिञौंइतिसम्वत्१८८२साल
6मितिमाघशुदि१३रोजशुभम्
Translation
[1r]
41
Hail! [This is] a letter (patra) from the Śrīnātha Kaṃpu Daphadarakhānā.
Age: Of the [soldiers] enrolled on monthly payments (text: dardamadhye bharnā) within Chainpur [in] Pallo Kirāta, the contractual payment (ṭheka) [for those] in Phedāp for the year [VS 18]82, [amounting to] two hundred fifty-seven and a half (257.5) mohararūpaiyās, was submitted to the accounts office (tahabila) by Makunda Siṃ Rāī, [having come] through (mārphata) Maṃjita Rāī. We have issued a receipt for it.
The 13th of the bright half of Māgha in the [Vikrama era] year 1882 (1826 CE).2 Auspiciousness.
Commentary
The document is a receipt from the office responsible for land assignments for the regular army, attesting that the contractual money due from Maṃjita Rāī was paid for the specified year through Makunda Siṃ Rāī. The term darda likely refers here to monthly cash payments or salaries to soldiers (Adhikari 1984: 347), here implying that these were paid from revenue collected in the Phedāp area.
The text does not clarify the relationship between Maṃjita Rāī and Makunda Siṃ Rāī. Both names, with slight spelling variations, appear in other copies of documents from the same private collection, catalogued in Documenta Nepalica under the identifiers E_3420_0003–E_3421_0030. The recurrence of these names in multiple documents suggests the existence of several subbās with the same names. For instance, E_3420_0007 mentions a Mukunda Siṃ Rāī inheriting the nagarā drum (a key emblem of the subbā office) from his father, Manajīta Rāī, in 1828 CE. Meanwhile, E_3420_0004 records a complaint by a Makunda Siṃ Rāī against Maṃjita Rāī and Milihā̃ Rāī in the same year, implying that the three were contemporaries who held different functionary positions. In any case, the Makunda Siṃ Rāī and Maṃjita Rāī referenced in the present document likely both held subbā titles in the Phedāp area at the time the original document was issued.
Additional documents from the same corpus (E_3420_0004, E_3420_0005) indicate that Makunda Siṃ Rāī collected contractual payments from other local functionaries. These transactions occurred under the ṭhekathiti system, introduced in Pallo Kirāta during the revenue settlements of 1820 and 1827 (Regmi 1965: 109; see pp. 108–111 for the specifics of the system in Pallo Kirāta as compared to the traditional ṭhekāthiti system of western Nepal). For an overview of the tax collection rights and obligations of different functionaries, see also Mābuhāṅ and Lāvatī 2078: Chapter 9.