Documenta Nepalica

Documents on the History of Religion and Law of Pre-modern Nepal
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A bhanāi of a letter by the king to Kājī Aṃbarasīṃ Thāpā re the sending of a sword (VS 1862)

ID: RRC_0006_0604


Edited and translated by Astrid Zotter in collaboration with Rajan Khatiwoda
Created: 2016-01-26; Last modified: 2018-06-15
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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

This is the main body of a letter (i.e. excluding the initial formalities) in which the sender (very probably the king) announces to Kājī Aṃbarasīṃ Thāpā that a sword has been sent to him on Vijayādaśamī through Subedāra Candrabhāna Khatrī. The receiver is instructed to carry the sword at his waist to ensure future victory.



Diplomatic edition

[552]

९९४

1काजी­अंवरसीं­थापा­वर्मा­
2चीठीको­भनाइ­
3उप्रान्त­मेरा­वाहुलीको­तरोवार­वीजय़ादश[?]
4को­साईत­पठाय़ा­वढीय़ा­होला­भनी­जैसीहरु
5ले­वींती­गर्दा­उर्दी­दी­मेरा­कंवरमा­राषी­षड्ग
6स्थापनामा­वीधीपुर्वकको­पुजा­गरी­षुरासान­
7तरोवार­चंद्रभान­षत्री­सुवेदारका­हात­तीमीछे
8उ­पुगन्य़ागरी­पठायेको­छे­आफना­साथ­कमरमा­
9राषन्य़ा­गर­य़ो­तरोवार­कंवर­छज्याल­तीमी­नीष्टै­

[553]

1सीत­रहन्य़ा­गर्नु­काज­पर्य़ामा­पनी­कंवरैमा­रहोस­फ
2तेह­हुन्य़ा­छ­मिति­१८६२­साल­मीती­आश्वीं­सुदी­१०­
3रोस­५­शु­

Translation

[552]

[no.] 994.1

[To:] KājīAṃvara Sīṃ Thāpā Varmā.2

The main body of the letter:3

Uprānta: As the astrologers (jaisīharu) have given the advice that it will be very good if a [single-]handed sword of mine (lit. “my hand’s sword” mero bāhulīko tarovāra) is sent [to you at the] auspicious moment (sāīta) of Vijayādaśamī, [I have] given [the necessary] orders, and a Khurāsān4 sword of mine, which [I] kept at [my] waist while performing worship (pūjā) according to the rules on khaḍgasthāpanā, has been sent to reach you through the hands of Subedāra Caṃdrabhāna Khatrī. Keep it with you at your waist. Remain in a state of devotion (niṣṭaisīta) as long as this sword is [at your] waist.

[553]

Let it remain at [your] waist even when there are official tasks [to do]. There will surely be victory (phateha).

Thursday, the 10th of the bright fortnight of Āśvina [in the Vikrama] year 1862 (1805 CE).5 Auspiciousness.


Commentary

The document has previously been translated by M.C. Regmi (1989: 50). He renders niṣṭaisīta rahanyā as “remain ritually pure” and kāja paryāmā as “when fighting occurs.” These translations render what may have been intended, but are at least imprecise. Even more loose is Regmi’s rendering of the passage khaḍgasthāpanāmā ... pujā garī.

“Establishing the sword” (khaḍgasthāpanā) was a key part of the royal Navarātra celebrations performed during the Malla dynasty of the Kathmandu Valley (A. Zotter forthcoming). It has usually been performed on Mahāṣṭamī, the eighth day of the autumnal Navarātra. As the document speaks about the sending of the sword on Vijayādaśamī (i.e. the climactic day of the festival, which under the Mallas featured a khaḍgajātrā, a sword procession, with the empowered sword being paraded through town), it may be evidence of the Śāhas’ adoption or adaptation of that part of the festival. These practices may, however, also be connected with the Bhadrakālīpūjā, which Chaulagain (2013) calls “[o]ne of the most esoteric rituals” (ibid.: 155) and was performed for the Śāha kings in the night of the seventh day of the Navarātra aka. Dasaĩ festival. In its course “weapons employed during the conquest of Gorkhā in 1559 and of the Kathmandu Valley in 1767/8” are “smeared with vermillion powder and raised (implanted) … in the pūjā room for khaḍgasiddhi” (ibid.: 156).

Notes

1. This number probably refers to the number given in the register of the Lagata Phā̃ta (Records Section) of the Department of Land Revenue in the Finance Ministry, from which the documents in the Regmi Research Collection were copied (M.C. Regmi 1978: 869; cf. M.R. Pant 2002: 70). [⇑]

2. As stressed by Stiller, "there were two well-known military commanders by the same name.... Nepali documents rarely distinguish between the two, and many English writers of that period seem to have completely confused them. To add to the confusion, both of these commanders were active in Kumaon at various times" (Stiller 1973: 218). Their names occur with the same variance in spelling (Amara/Aṃvara/Ambara Siṃ/Sīṃ/Siṃha) and two even exchanged letters, one of which has been edited by M.R. Pant (1966). One Amara Siṃha Thāpā (VS 1816–1871) was the father of Bhīmasena Thāpā and the commander of Palpa (ibid.: 48 n. 1), the other the famous conqueror and adversary of Ochterlony (ibid.: 48 n. 2). As the present document uses the title kājī it seems more likely that the latter Amara Siṃha Thāpā, i.e. the Nepalese war hero known as Būḍhā-, or Baḍākājī, is being addressed. [⇑]

3. Such remarks may have been added when Regmi's scribes made copies of documents in the Lagata Phā̃ta. The present document probably was either an original lālamohara, or, more likely, a copy of a lālamohara, but in any case a version that presumably still contained the initial formalities, including invocatio, intitulatio etc. [⇑]

4. Swords from the Central Asian region of Khorasan have been very famous since antiquity (cf. entry on Sword in the 1911 Encyclopedia Brittanica; https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Sword). [⇑]

5. Judging from the date, the original document was issued in the name of King Gīrvāṇayuddha. [⇑]