A copy of a rukkā from King Raṇabahādura Śāha retaining Ātahā Rāī's authority over his ancestral land (VS 1847)
ID: E_3420_0011
Edited and
translated by Julia Shrestha
Created: 2024-28-10;
Last modified: 2025-11-17
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Abstract
The king reaffirms in this copy of a rukkā Ātahā Rāī’s authority over land which had previously been granted to his ancestors by the king of Makwanpur.Diplomatic edition
[1r]
1९1श्री\1स्वस्तिश्रीमन्माहाधिराजकस्यरूक्का¯¯¯¯¯2आगेआतहाराईकेहिजोमकवानिराजालेदियाकाजमिन्
3तेरापुर्खलेपायाकोयाक्सिजंउत्तरसिवुकादक्षिणयवापूर्व
4तमोरपश्चिमयेतिचारकिल्लाभित्रकाजगातलाईथामिवक्सौ
5लिम्वुवानगैह्रलाईलाग्याकोदस्तु(र)अमालिलाईदाखिलागरि
6जिमिनजानिभोगेगरईतिसम्वत्१८४७सालभाद्रशुदि५रोजशुभम्
7पछादिपट्टि
8मार्फतजगमिश्रयेदेसिवनारायेनषत्रि
Translation
[1r]
91
Hail! [This is a] rukkā from the supreme king of kings.2
Āge: To Ātahā Rāī
The land given previously (lit. yesterday) by the Makavāni king, which your ancestors obtained north [of] Yāksijaṃ, south [of] Sivukā, east [of the] Yavā [and] west [of the] Tamor—the land within these four boundaries—we confirm to you. Submit the customary dues (dastura) applicable in Limbuvān and surrounding areas to the amāli, know the land [to be yours] and enjoy it.
The 5th of the bright fortnight of Bhadra in the [Vikrama era] year 1847 (1790 CE).3
Auspiciousness.
Backside:
Through Jaga Miśraye, Desiva Nārāyena Ṣatri
Commentary
This copy of a rukkā issued by King Raṇabahādura Śāha reaffirms an earlier land grant made by the Sen kings of Makwanpur to a Kiranti headman in the Limbuvān area. Beginning with the 16th-century ruler Vijayanārāyaṇa Sena, the Sen dynasty conferred the title of rāya (later rāī) on local chiefs to secure the military loyalty of the Kiranti people and maintain political stability within their kingdom (see Schlemmer 2010: 47–8; Schlemmer bases his discussion on Hamiliton 1819: 133). According to Bhagiraj Ingnam, the earliest surviving document from the Sens relating to Pallo Kirāta/Limbuvān dates from VS 1719 and is found in Rājavaṃśī 2018: 4 (cited in Ingnam 2024: 4).
The Śāha kings reconfirmed the grants that the Sen kings made to the Kiranti headmen, affirming their titles, lands and specific privileges, such as the right to play the nagarā kettledrum (for a discussion of this right, see the commentary to the edition of E_3345_0008). Whereas Sen rule over the Kiranti groups was largely nominal, the Gorkhali conquests gradually brought these groups under the military, administrative and judicial hegemony of the Hindu state.