A copy of an order from Subedāra Śaṅkhadhara to Patan officials to
investigate Rāmananda Bā̃ḍā's claim to the overseership of the Luthāma Guṭha (VS
1860)
ID: E_2254_0001C
Edited and
translated by Manik Bajracharya
in collaboration with
Pabitra Bajracharya
Created: 2020-08-25;
Last modified: 2021-09-02
For the metadata of the document, click here
Published by Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities: Documents on the History of
Religion and Law of Pre-modern Nepal, Heidelberg, Germany, 2021.
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 
.
Abstract
This document is a copy of an order of Subedāra Saṅkhadhara to officials of Patan
to substantiate the claims of Rāmananda Bā̃ḍā that the Matsyendranātha-related
Luthāma Guṭha has been operated by the members of his clan. Another copy of this
document is archived as E_2253_0015D.
Diplomatic edition
[1r]
1श्रीदुर्गासहाय:
1 1⟪3⟫
1स्वस्तिश्रीसुवेदार∙शंखधरकस्यलिखापत्रम्
¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯2आगेसहर
पाटनका∙डिठ्ठा∙
रुद्रनारायण∙डिठ्ठा
भाजुराम∙द्वार्या∙
चंद्रमणिवराल∙तुसाल
3कोद्वार्या∙
कालुजैसि∙विष्णुदेवलको∙विचारी∙
करुणाकर∙दुलालकेषु∙यथोचित∙आगे∙
ओ
4कुवाहालटोल∙
श्रीमहावुद्धननिकारामानंदवाँडाले¯ ¯१को¯ रथमालुथामगुठि∙हाम्रा
[?]5रुषा
जीवराजज्युज्यूले∙राष्याकोहोभंछन्दानपत्रहेरुंभंदा∙
नेपालमार्द्दा∙
भाद्गाउंमा[?]6फ्नाआलमालसार्द्दा∙गुठचढायाकापत्र∙आलमालसमेत∙भोट्याले∙खोसिलियाभनि
7भंछन्तस्अर्थ∙चौवीसहजारपाटनकाजान्यामानीस्वसाली∙निरूपणगर्द्दा∙जीवरा
8जवाँडालेराष्याकोहोईन∙हाम्रापुरुषालेराष्याकोहोभनि∙कोहिभन्नसक्तछतउस्का
9हातकोमुचुल्कालेषाई∙लिएरजोरिदेउ∙एसैकापुरुषालेराष्याकोलुथामगूठपनिरहेछ
10विग्र्याकोवस्तु∙सपार्न∙इनकाघर∙आजसम्मराषिजाँदारह्याछन्∙नविग्र्याकोवस्तुरा
11ष्याकाभँडारका∙ताल्चाकोसाँचोपनि∙अझसम्म∙इनैकाघरराषिन्यारहेछभन्या∙स
12र्कारवाटपनि∙मोहोरगरीवक्स्याकोछ∙वहालिचलाइदेउसर्व्वथा३सैइतिसंवत्१८६०सा
13लमितिआश्विनवदि
[?]रोज
शुभम्
¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯३
Translation
[1r]
May glorious Durgā protect [us]2
33
Hail! A letter of venerable amālī [and] subedāraŚaṅkhadhara.
Āge: To ḍiṭṭhāRudranārāyaṇa, diṭṭhāBhājurāma4 , dvāryāCandramaṇi Barāla, Kālu Jaisī
(dvāryā of Tusāla) and
Karuṇākara Dulāla (bicārī of Viṣṇu
Devala) in the city of Patan.
Hereafter5 , Āge:
Rāmānanda Bā̃ḍā, a resident of the courtyard
(nani) of glorious Mahābuddha at Oku
Bāhāla Ṭola, claims: "The Luthāma Guṭhī6 of the chariot of -1-7 was donated by our ancestor
forefather Jīvarāja." When asked to show the deed of donation,
he says: "During the conquest of Nepāla [by the Śāhas], when
we were moving our goods to Bhādagāũ8 , the deed endowing the
guṭhī was grabbed by Bhoṭyās." For this
reason, if investigated in the presence of informed persons among the twenty-four
thousand (households/people) of Patan, some may claim: "[The
guṭhī] was not endowed by Jīvarāja Bā̃ḍā. It
was endowed by our ancestor."If [someone claims ] so, have his statement written in
his own hand and attach it [to this letter].
If it is learned that the Luthāma Vimāna Guṭha was indeed endowed by his (i.e.,
Rāmānanda's) ancestor, that people still leave broken parts [of the panels] in his
house for repairing, and that his household still keeps the key to the storeroom
where the intact parts are stored, by all means grant him a
bahāli9 [document]. The king, too, has issued
a mohara.10
Tuesday11 , the 12th of
the dark fortnight of Āśvīna in the [Vikrama] era year 1860 (1803 CE).
Auspiciousness. --- 312
Commentary
This is the second copy of the letter issued by Subedāra Śaṅkhadhara, the
amālī of Patan. For the first copy and further commentary, see
the document E_2253_0015D.
Notes
3. This roman number was added probably by the owner of the document
to denote the document number within the series.
[⇑] 6. The Luthāma
Guṭhī was established by Jīvarāja Bā̃ḍā when he donated the gilt metal panels to
the Buṅgadyo chariot. These panels and the structure securing the sanctum of the
chariot are known as
vimāna.
[⇑] 7. I.e., Matsyendranātha. The scribe has omitted the name of the deity
which usually should have been written in the space above the main text.
E_2253_0015D has the name as Matsyendra.
[⇑] 9. The term
bahālī
generally means a letter of appointment or the rent on a property. However, it has
apparently been used here to refer to a document putting overseership of the
guṭha into the hands of Rāmānanda and his fellow
guṭha members.
[⇑] 11. The weekday that should appear after the word 'रोज' has been
left blank in the document. However, the line specifying the date begins with the
letter '३', suggesting that it was Tuesday. This is also confirmed by Micho Yano's
Pancanga date conversion tool
(
http://www.cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp/~yanom/pancanga/)
[⇑] 12. This number denotes that the current document
is the third one in the series of copies.
[⇑]