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NHDP_0001_0033

Documenta Nepalica

Documents on the History of Religion and Law of Pre-modern Nepal
Version with DOI and citation guidelines Editorial Principles

A stone slab inscription at Tāpāhiti Gaṇeśa in Lalitpur re the replacement of the old Gaṇeśa idol with a new one by Kṛṣṇa Siṃha Bhāro (NS 907)

ID: NHDP_0001_0033


Edited by Rajan Khatiwoda, Rajendra Shakya and Ravi Shakya in collaboration with Simon Cubelic
Created: 2020-10-11; Last modified: 2022-01-10
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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, 2022. 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.
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

The inscription records the installation of a new statue of Gaṇeśa, the sthānagaṇeśa of Tāpā Hīti ṭola, in NS 907 (1787 CE) to replace the existing statue at the temple. The donor is a local resident named Kṛṣṇa Siṃha Bhāro.


Diplomatic edition

[1r]


 [An embossed image of the moon]


 [A four-armed embossed image of Gaṇeśa]


 [An embossed image of the sun]


 [Ornamental line]

1ऽश्री­३­गणेशाय­॥ ॥माङ्गल्यरूपपरमं­
2मजवक्त्रशोभं­﹨शूत्रं­कूठारदधतें­करन्यस्त
3मूलं­।नृत्येरतं­सिरसि­चन्द्रकलावतंसं­मू
4खासनं­सुवरदं­हरसूनुमीडे­॥ ॥
5मुनिशून्यग्रहे­चाक्षे­आखाढे­शितपक्ष
6के­।तृतीयाशशिवारेषु­﹨तस्मिद्दिने­प्र
7तिस्थितं­॥ ॥अथ:परं­दशभाखा­॥
8ऽश्रेयोस्तु­॥सम्वत्सरे­९०[?]­आखाढ­[?]
9से­शुक्लपक्षे­﹨तृतीयान्तिथौ­﹨पुष्यनक्ष
10त्रे­﹨व्याघातयोगे­﹨सोमवार­﹨थ्वकुन्हु­
11न्हापायाम्ह­गणेश­भग्न­जुयाव­﹨तपा
12हितिया­﹨साहिजुया­﹨पौत्र­﹨कृष्णसिं
13ह­भारोस्न­श्री­३­स्थानगणेश­प्रति
14[?]­याक­दिन­जुरो­॥शुभम्भूयात्‌­

Synopsis

On Monday, the 3rd of the bright fortnight of Āṣāḍha in NS 907 (1787 CE), Kṛṣṇa Siṃha Bhāro, grandson of Sāhiju of Tāpā Hiti (text: Tapā Hiti), installed a new statue of Lord Gaṇeśa, as the statue previously installed [at the temple] was worn down.


Commentary

The inscription begins with a few lines of invocation in Sanskrit to thrice-venerable Gaṇeśa. Being the sthānagaṇeśa of the area, the temple where the image is located is of great importance for the local residents. It is not very common to replace a previously installed stone statue by a new one. In the case of Gaṇeśa statues, aniconic stones receive reverence equal to that for any iconic image of the deity. Probably, therefore, the previously installed idol was not just worn down but broken, which prompted the locals to replace it with a new one. Note that the Sanskrit part of the text sometimes does not follow grammatical and spelling standards. Given that this is a common feature of such texts composed in a Newar setting, the apparent scribal errors have not been marked in the edition.

Notes