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A receipt for the ṭīkābheṭ levy offered to the generals of Thāpāthalī (VS 1918)

ID: E_2778_0047


Edited and translated by Astrid Zotter
Created: 2018-06-18; Last modified: 2018-11-26
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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, 2018. 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 document acknowledges the receipt of 15 rupees as ṭīkābheṭ offered on the occasion of Baḍādasaĩ by the officers of the Jagaddala Palṭana to the six generals of Thāpāthalī.



Diplomatic edition

[1r]

[?]

1श्री­जगद्दल­•
2२­

1श्री­जनरल­साहेव­•
2१­

[unknown seal]

1[?]र्पाईदादै­•श्री­लेफ्‌टेंट­कर्णैल्‌­लाल­सिं­षतृ­आगे­•थापाथली­ ¯ ¯१¯ ¯ हरू­
2जना­६लाई­• ¯ ¯२¯­पल्टन्‌का­पगरीहरूले­वडादसैंको­ठीकाभेट्‌­चर्‍हा
3याको­मोहररूपैया­पंध्र­•१५­वहीदार­हंसवीर­हस्तेमसँग­दाषिल­भ
4यो­•तस्को­भर्पा      इ­लेषीदिञाँ­¯¯¯¯¯¯

[table1]

तपसील्‌­•¯¯
1लेफ्‌टेन्‌­गंभीर­सिं­गुरूं­को­रू­१­
2इन्सायेन्‌­शिव­लाल­ऐं­को­रू­१­
3मेजर­अजिटन्‌­दलभंजन­थापा­को­रू­१­
4षरीदार­लक्ष्मीभक्त­उपाध्याय­को­रू­१­
5सुवेदार­जना­१०मध्ये­षाली­१­वाकी­९­को­रू­•९­
6कोत्या­•को­•रू­१­
7राईटर­•को­रू­१­
8१५­

5इति­सम्वत्‌­१९१८­साल­मिति­आश्वीन­सुदि­१४­रोज­५­शुभम­•¯ ¯ ¯

Translation

[1r]

Śrī

Venerable Jagaddala – 2

Venerable General Sāhebas – 1

Receipt (bharpāīdādai); [issued to] venerable Lieutenant Colonel Lāla Siṃ Khatṛ.

Āge: Fifteen, [in numbers] 15, mohararūpaiyā̃s offered as the Baḍādasaĩṭīkābheṭ by the officers (pagarī) of the [venerable Jagaddala]1 Palṭan to the 6 [General Sāhebas]2 of Thāpāthalī, was delivered into the hands of3 BahīdāraHaṃsavīra. He issued a receipt for it.

[table]

Particulars (tapasila)
Lieutenant ColonelGaṃbhīra Siṃ GurūṃRs1
EnsignŚiva Lāla GurūṃRs1
Adjutant MajorDalabhaṃjana ThāpāRs1
KharidāraLakṣmībhakta UpādhyāyaRs1
9 subedāras; of 10 only one remainingRs9
The koteRs1
The raīṭaraRs1
15

Thursday, the 14th of the bright fortnight of the month of Āśvina in the [Vikrama] era year 1918 (1861 CE). Auspiciousness.


Commentary

The document concerns the submission of the ṭīkābheṭ (or ṭīkābheṭī), a levy that was to be paid on the occasion of the autumnal Dasaĩ festival by military and civil officials to the central authority (cf. Regmi 1983; Zotter 2018: 508, referring to NGMPP DNA 2/81, lines 13–18). The typical sum of 1 Rs per head is mentioned both here and in other documents (cf. DNA_0002_0020; DNA_0004_0084; Regmi 1971: 192; Regmi 1984: 132). At the beginning of the 20th century the rate seems to have increased. Thus Regmi (1983: 14) quotes an arrangement valid from 1929 onwards with rates of Rs 16 for the commander-in-chief, 12 Rs for high officers, and 3 Rs for others. These sums went to the reigning king, his queens, the queen mothers (i.e. legitimate wives of the king's father), and princes and princesses according to a fixed scheme (ibid.: 12–13). Interestingly, the present document, pertaining to the levy paid by officers of an army unit, stipulates the Thāpāthāli generals—that is, the heads of the Rāṇā family who were in command of the army—as receivers of the levy, not the royal family.

The names of other high officers mentioned in the text reveals their ethnic background as being Gurung (the lieutenant colonel and the ensign) and probably Magar (the Thāpā adjutant major), while the hierarchically lower-ranking post of secretary (kharidāra) was occupied by a Brahmin of Upādhyāya status. Such hierarchical schemes must have been a new phenomenon at that time. Previously officer ranks (called pagarī, denoting the ranks from subedāra on up; see Whelpton 1991: 239 n. 103) were reserved for members of the Indo-Nepalese upper castes (Thakuri, Khas and Brahmin), while Magar and Gurung could serve in the lower ranks only (ibid.: 208–210). This development seems to have been connected with the creation of new military posts. According to Hamal (1995: 32) the posts of general and colonel were added under Bhīmasena Thāpā with a general being in command of the kampus stationed in Kathmandu and the colonels commanding the forces outside the Valley. Whelpton (1991: 210), dealing with Jaṅga Bahādura's recruitment strategy for the army, pins down the opening up of the rank of colonel to Magars and Gurungs to a lālamohara issued in 1863 (ibid.: 210). The creation of the rank of lieutenant colonel, immediately below a colonel (cf. Adhikari 1984: 161 table VII), had been a recent introduction under Jaṅga Bahādura (Whelpton 1991: 208). As the present document shows, Gurungs could rise to that rank already in 1861.

The palṭana named in the document, Jagaddala, could be the "Jagdal" regiment, which is known to have existed around this time. Hamal (1995: 44) lists it among those formed between 1847 and 1881 but later dissolved. Adhikari (1984: 156 table IV) places it among regiments existing in 1863. Regmi (1979: 83) puts the "Jagadal Paltan" among the units forming the "Rajadal Kampu" in 1910. If this Jagdal or Jagadal is indeed identical with the present document’s Jagaddala, it must therefore have been raised between 1847 and 1861 and must have existed at least until 1910.


Notes

1. Inserted from the space numbered 2 above. []

2. Inserted from the space numbered 1 above. This is most probably a reference to the six leading positions in the Rāṇā Roll of Succession, established by Jaṅga Bahādura in 1856 and revised in 1860 and 1868 (Kumar 1967: 66–77). It included 1) the Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief, 2) the Commander-in-Chief General, 3) the Senior Commanding General of the Western Command and 4)–6) the three Commanding Generals of the Eastern, Southern and Northern Commands. According to Jaṅga Bahādura's last revision of 1868, apart from himself and three of his brothers—Raṇoddīpa Siṃha, Jagat Śamśera Jaṅga and Dhīra Śamśera—it included his two eldest sons, Jagat Jaṅga Bahādura and Jita Jaṅga Bahādura (ibid.: 70–71). At the time of issue of the present document, Jaṅga Bahādura's brother Kṛṣṇa Bahādura, who died in 1863, must have figured before Raṇoddīpa Siṃha as the second in the roll. Kṛṣṇa Bahādura became prime minister after his brother Bam Bahādura's death in 1857, while after Jaṅga Bahādura reassumed premiership some months later he still held the post of Commander-in-Chief General (Whelpton 1991: 195–196). []

3. The reading hastemasãga may be a conflation of Skt. hastena and Nep. hāthasãga, both meaning "by/through/with the hand". Though this might be interpreted as pointing to the bahīdāra as the one who delivered the levy, it is here assumed that he was the accountant who received the sum and issued the receipt. If understood as standing for hastemāsãga the double postposition could denote that the money was put "into" (-mā) his hand by the lt. col., and "with" (sãga) that hand he was to deliver it to the generals. []