Documenta Nepalica

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

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A stone slab inscription at Si Bāhāḥ, Khāchẽ Ṭola, Lalitpur re the enforcement of regulations for saṅgha members by Dharma Siṃhaju (NS 820)

ID: NHDP_0001_0026

Edited by Rajan Khatiwoda and Rajendra Shakya in collaboration with Rabi Acharya and Simon Cubelic
Created: 2020-10-21; Last modified: 2021-09-06
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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, 2021. The image(s) on which this edition is based on is/are published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY-SA 4.0) and the copyright lies with NHDP. All use of the digital facsimiles requires prior written permission by the copyright holder. See Terms of Use.
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Abstract

Saṅgha members of Si Bāhāḥ led by Dharma Siṃhaju, its thapāḥju, enforce rules that were practised before. The inscription lists a number of rules that all the members are obliged to follow.Note that the inscription is written in Sanskrit mixed with Newari. Apparent scribal errors in the Sanskrit portion are not marked or corrected in the edition.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

[Engraving of the moon]

[Engraving of the sun]

[Engraving of a vajra on a lotus throne]

[Engraving of the sun]

[Engraving of the moon]

[Three rows of ornamental carvings]

1ऽश्रेयोऽस्तु॥सम्वत८२०वैशाखशुक्लपूर्ण्णमाश्यौतिथौ
2श्रीमाणीग्लाधिपतिमहाराजाधिराजश्रीश्रीजययोग
3नरेन्द्र मल्लदेवप्रभुठाकुरस﹨﹨विजयराज्येया
4ङंविज्याक﹨﹨थ्वगुलप्रज्यायर्स﹨श्रीवछवाहालया
5थलिपाश्रीधम्मसिंहजु﹨﹨प्रमुखनदशवलजि
6ह्मनायकसंघथकाडिसहित﹨﹨सकलसंघस
7मोहोन﹨﹨ह्ङायापतिसपींकास्य﹨﹨श्रीवछवाहा
8रयापरिपातिचोस्यंतलङायाभाखाथ्वति॥
9भाषा﹨﹨थ्याकवदछुयङादंमदयकमदु॥थका
10रिकोतिनम्मदु﹨﹨क्वाचपालफरस﹨﹨पायपियछ
11तीङमदुननिस﹨﹨किलतायथाज्यायनेआदि
12पंकचंगलनसनेमदुतवग्वडजलसि
13देवयातवाहिकनमेवयातङयवियम
14दु﹨﹨थ्वतिपरिपातिसुनानंजुरसनंमानय
15मयायमदु﹨﹨थ्वचोस्यतयाथ्यमानयमयातसा
16पंञ्चमहापातकलाक॥शुभ॥

Synopsis

On the full moon day of the bright fortnight of Vaiśākha in NS 820 (1730 CE), when twice venerable King Yoga Narendra Malla, the lord of Māṇigla 2 , was ruling over the land under his dominion, all the saṃgha members at the behest of Dharma Siṃhaju (text: Dhammasiṃhaju), the thapāḥju of Si Bāhāḥ (text: Śrīvacha Bāhāla) drafted the following rules that were formerly practiced: "The Bare chuigu ritual shall not be performed [on any boy] until he is five years old; nothing shall be allowed to be dried on the plinth in front of the kvāḥpāḥdyaḥ; no one is permitted to hammer pegs, spread yarn, etc. in the courtyard; the large jaḥsi (text: jalasi; a large copper cauldron) shall not be rented out to anyone except for [work related to] the deity." Everyone must follow these rules. If anyone does not follow what is written, [the sin of commiting] the pañcamahāpātaka will fall upon him.

Commentary

One of the rules that this inscription enforces upon the saṅgha members of Si Bāhāḥ is that a boy should be at least five years of age to undergo the bare chuigu ritual. Usually this ritual is performed at the age of three, five or seven years, but the rule set by this inscription raised the minimum age for being inducted into the saṅgha of the bāhāḥ.

Notes

1. Note that the inscription is written in Sanskrit mixed with Newari. Apparent scribal errors in the Sanskrit portion are not marked or corrected in the edition. [⇑]

2. A variant of Māṇigala, a term that primarily refers to the Patan Durbar area but later became synonymous with the whole city of Patan. [⇑]

Glossary

Word	Notes
bare chuigu	[New.]; n. The rite of monastic initiation mandatory for all Śākya and Vajrācārya boys.
kvāḥpāḥdyaḥ	[fr. old New. kvācapāla deva] var. kvāpaḥdyaḥ, kvāḥbhāḥju; n. principal deity of a Buddhist monastery. Enshrined on the ground floor of the main building of a monastery, kvāḥpāḥdyaḥ is almost always facing the main entrace to the monastery complex.
pañcamahāpātaka	[S.] n. five grave sins or offenses causing loss of caste, enumerated as: killing a Brahmin, drinking intoxicating liquor, theft, committing adultery with the wife of one's teacher or elder, and associating with anyone guilty of these crimes (Manusmṛti 11.257) (Olivelle 2015: 315).
saṃgha	[S.] var. saṅgha; n. 1) monastic community; The term is most commonly used to refer to the order of Buddhist monks and nuns of Theravāda tradition. In the context of the Newars of the Kathmandu valley, all bāhāḥs and bahīs are inhabited and tended to by initiated members of Śākyas and Vajrācāryas, who are householder monks residing in and around the respective monastery to form its saṃgha. The bare chuigu ritual formally inducts a boy to the saṃgha of his monastery, keeps him in line to take his turn to serve as the dyaḥpāḥlāḥ (guardian of the main deity), and paves way for him to eventually become an āḥju (elder) of the monastery during the later half of his life. Some of the monasteries are very strict in the induction of a new member and do not allow boys from an inter-caste marriage to be initiated at the monastery. 2) one of the Buddhist trinity: the Buddha, the Dharma (his teachings) and the Saṃgha (monastic association)̣. In bāhās and bahīs, besides the image of the Buddha, one can see the personification of the Dharma in the form of the image of Prajñāpāramitā seen to the right and the Saṃgha in the form of an image of Ṣaḍakṣarī Lokeśvara to the left of the Buddha. (#new#RS)
thapāḥju	[New.] n. the most senior of the elders (āju) of a monastery. In bāhāḥs, the most senior āju is always a Vajrācārya, who is also called casalāḥju, a derivative of Cakreśvara āju. This, however, does not apply to a bāhāḥ that does not have a Vajrācārya member.