Documenta Nepalica

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

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A purjī from the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā to the priest Joga Bahādura Karmācārjye re the theft of a statue of Tripurasundarī in Bhaktapur (VS 1977)

ID: K_0262_0056

Edited and translated by Ramhari Timalsina
Created: 2020-11-09; Last modified: 2020-11-23
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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, 2020. 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

A statue of Tripurasundarī having been stolen in Bhaktapur, this arrest warrant is served upon the priest Joga Bahādura Karmācārjye by the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1⟪7⟫

1⟪१६⟪४⟫नं⟫

1श्री५सर्कार•तर्फगुठीवंदोवस्तमालवाट
2भादगाऊतुलाछेवीध्यापीठ्‌वस्नेपु•जोगवाहादुरकर्माचार्ज्येकेपुर्जिउप्रान्त•भादगाऊ•श्रीत्रीपुरसुंदरी•मुर्तिअघी
3चोरीभय़ाको•मासर्कारतर्फवाटसट्टाभर्नाराषीवक्सेकोसोत्रीपुरसुंदरीकोमुर्तिस्मेतचोरीभय़ाको•हुनालेसो
4चोरी•भय़ाको•मुर्तिजिम्मालीनेतीमीभये़कोरसोमुर्तिसट्टाभर्ना•नराषेकोलेआजकामीतीदेषीतीमी•
5ये़सअडामार्फ़ट्थुनुव़ाभये़को•हुनालेथुनुव़ापुर्जिगरीदिञ्युंसंम्वत•१९७७सालमाघ२६गतेरोजशुभ्म् ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

1य़ोनकलवमोजीं•को
2सकलपुर्जि•वुझीलीने
3पु•जोगवाहादुरकर्माचा
4र्ज्ये•भाः•तुलाछे

1स्हीजोगवाहा
2दुरकर्माचार्ज्ये

Translation

[1r]

No. 14 1

A pūrjī from the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā of Śrī 5 Sarkāra to the priest Joga Bāhādura Karmācārjye of the Tulāche Vidyāpīṭha, Bhādagāū

Uprānta: A statue of the goddess Tripurasundarī was stolen and restitution was made by the Government. However, even the newly installed statue of the goddess has been stolen, and since you (i.e. Joga Bāhādura Karmācārjye) are the person who is responsible for the statue, and you have not made restitution, therefore from today onwards you will be in the custody of this office, whence we have served an arrest warrant upon you.

On …, the 26th day of Māgha in the [Vikrama] era year 1977 (1921 CE). Auspiciousness.

[Marginal note:]

Priest Joga Bāhādura Karmācārjye, [a resident of] Tulāche, Bhā[dagāū] is the person who received the original of this copy.

[Signature:]

Signature of Joga Bāhādura Karmācārjye

Commentary

The present document is related to the theft of a statue of Tripurasundarī in Bhaktapur in the night of the 28th day of Pauṣa in the Vikrama era year 1977, and is one of 15 documents, numbered by the NGMPP from K_0262_0051 to K_0262_0065, having to do with the matter. These documents were issued by the Aḍḍā Jā̃ca Śrestā Phāṭa, Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā, Guṭhī Jā̃ca Aḍḍā or Choṭī Jaṅgī Koṭavālī of Bhādgāu, or else addressed to these offices.

Notes

1. These numerals by a second hand were probably added when documents were either sorted or, more likely, when they were microfilmed. [⇑]

Glossary

Word	Notes
Aḍḍā Jā̃ca Śrestā Phā̃ṭa	var. Aḍā Jāca Śrestā Phāṭa, Aḍḍā Jā̃ca, Aḍā Jāca Śrestā; n. an office set up for inspection purpose. It inspected all government officers in the valley and sent its report to the Commander-in-Chief (Agrawal 1976: 61)
Choṭī Jaṅgī Kotavālī	var. Choṭī Jaṅgī Koṭavālī, Choṭī Jaṅgī Koṭvālī; n. regional army station.
Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā	var. Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍā, Guṭhi Bandobasta Aḍā; n. "Guthi Administration Office", office responsible for the management of guṭhīs; established under Jaṅga Bahādura Rāṇā in 1852-1853 as replacement of the former Guṭhī Kacaharī. Its foundation marks the change from the guṭhīyāri system of the guṭhī management to the contractor based system; remained the central office to coordinate all offices subsequently established for handling different aspects of guṭhī management, including the Guṭhī Kharca Aḍḍā and others. Separate Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍās managed the śrī 5 sarkāra guṭhīs and the śrī 3 sarkāra guṭhīs (cf. M.C. Regmi 1978: 713-715).
Guṭhī Jā̃ca Aḍḍā	n. an institution serving an oversight function within the state’s supervision of local guṭhī management, for example in matters relating to tender arrangements.
purjī	[fr. P. purja] var. purji, pūrjī; n. 1) slip of paper, note. 2) formal letter written by a government institution or an official to another institution or to a person.
śrī 5 sarkāra	lit. "five-times venerable ruler"; commonly used to refer to the Śāha king (cp. Whelpton 2005: 266) and often indistinctively to his government (Lecomte-Tilouine 2015).
uprānta	var. uprāṃta, ūprāṃnta, ūprā̃nta, prāṃta; also yathocita uprānta; conj. after that, besides, in addition to, hereafter. In earlier prose and official documents, this word marked the beginning of a text or paragraph. It has no equivalent in English (Clark 1989: 231). In some (mostly Rāṇā period?) documents, it takes the form of yathocita uprānta.