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 Devānī Phā̃ṭa re consequences arising from the theft of a statue of Tripurasundarī in Bhaktapur (VS 1977)

ID: K_0262_0057

Edited and translated by Ramhari Timalsina
Created: ; Last modified: 2020-12-20
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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 letter from the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā puts a query to the Devānī Phā̃ṭa concerning the confiscation of private property belonging to the priest of the temple in compensation for the loss.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1[A symbol representing an invocation]

1⟪158⟫

[A seal with the legend: श्री५गुठिवन्दोवस्तअडा१९७७]

1⟪१६नं.⟫

1श्री५स.गुठीवंदोवस्तवाट अःतदेवानीफाट्के
2पुर्जी

1उप्रान्तभादगाऊतर्फजाये़जात्‌गर्नपरेकोलेअैंसवाल्‌वमोजींभीःकुःनेःफाट्लाईसाछीपठाउनु
2नुभनीपुर्जीलेषीपठाय़ा[...]माकीतापीसवाल्‌वमोजींगर्नुभंनेज्वाफपठाय़ाकोरकीतापीसवाल्को
3१०१दफामाजाये़जात्‌गर्नपर्दासदरकालेठानाकुमारीचोकपाटंकालेपोतोअडामौफसलकालेगौडा
4गोश्वरासाछीराषीजाये़जातगर्नभंनेलेषीयाकोभादगाऊमाजाये़जात्गर्नपर्दाये़स्ये़सअडा
5साछीराषीजाये़जात्‌गर्नभंनेनलेषीयाकोहुनालेवुझ्नुपर्दालेषनेकांभये़कोछतेसअडावाट
6भादगाऊतर्फजाये़जात्‌गर्नुपर्दाठानाकुमारीचोकसाछीलीनेगरीआय़ाकोछछैनसोरलीआ
7याकोनभयेसोभादगाऊतर्फजाये़जात्‌गर्दाकुंकुंअडासाछीलीजाये़जातगरेकोछसोकोषुलस्त
8[?]वाफये़सैकापीठ्माज्वाफलेषीपठाउनेकांभये़वेसहोलासं७७।१०। ।शु

[Unknown seal]

Translation

[1r]

[A symbol which can be read as śrī]1

[A seal with the legend: Śrī 5 Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā 1977]

No. 16 2

A pūrjī from the Śrī 5 Sa.3 Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā to the [...] 4 Devānī Phāṭ

Uprānta: In response to a pūrjī we had despatched to the Bhī. Ku. Ne.5 phā̃ṭa, stating: "Since a confiscation of property needs to be carried out in Bhādagāũ, send us a witness in accordance with the Ain6 [and] Savālas 7 ," we received a reply asking us to act in accordance with the Kītāpī Savāla. In Section 101 of the Kitāpī Savāla it is stated: “In the case when a confiscation needs to be carried out, the centre (sadara, that is, Kathmandu) should supply [an officer of] the ṭhānā [of] the Kumārī Coka as a witness; [the authorities] of Pāṭan, [an officer of] the Potā Aḍḍā; and [the authorities] of country districts, [an officer of] the Gauḍā [or] Gośvarā. However, with regard to confiscations in Bhādagāũ, [the Kitāpī Savāla] does not specify the office that supplies a witness. 8 Thus this issue needs to be clarified, so we have written [this letter]. We are asking your office (i.e., the Devānī Phā̃ṭa) to send us a reply clarifying whether it is customary to take a witness [from] the ṭhānā of the Kumārī Coka when confiscations are carried out in Bhādagāũ, and if he is not taken [from] that office, to clarify for us from which office he is when confiscations are carried out in Bhādagāũ. It would be good if you could write the answer on the backside of this letter, and send it [back] to us.

On … 9 , the ...10 day of the 10th [month] in the [Vikrama] era year [19]77 (1921 CE). Auspiciousness.

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 Phā̃ṭa, Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā, Guṭhī Jā̃ca Aḍḍā or Choṭī Jaṅgī Koṭavālī, or else addressed to these offices.

Notes

1. Generally documents write śrī by way of an invocation. [⇑]

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

3. An abbreviation for sarakāra. [⇑]

4. The illegible letters a: ta seem to be an abbreviation, possibly for adālatatarpha (i.e., relating to a court). [⇑]

5. This seems to be an abbreviation for a governmental office. The office could not be identified. [⇑]

6. This refers to Ain § 45.5 (see Fezas 2000: 238). [⇑]

7. This refers to Kitāpī Savāla, Section 101 (recorded in the Documenta Nepalica as K_0347_0004). [⇑]

8. This document, in quoting the section of the Kitāpī Savāla, seems to show clearly that the compendium of administrative rules does not mention which office should be tapped to supply a witness for confiscations in Bhādagāũ. However, the actual section in question does in fact state that in Bhādagāũ and Pāṭan it is the Potā Aḍḍā that should do so. It is possible that some words of the section were missing in the version of the compendium that the officer consulted (perhaps a handwritten copy) or that he simply overlooked the words. The Kitāpī Savāla was published in VS 1968, and the present document was issued nine years after its publication. [⇑]

9. The space for the day of the week has been left blank in the original. [⇑]

10. The space for the day of the month has been left blank in the original. [⇑]

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.
Devānī Phā̃ṭa	var. devānī phāṭ, divānī phāṭ, dīvānī phāṭā, dīvānī phā̃ṭā; n. division or section of a civil court.
gaũḍā / gauḍā	var. gaurā; n. 1) a fortification, fortress (see Parājulī et al. 2052: s.v. gaũḍā and gauḍā); 2) certain districts were known as gauḍā, according to Adhikari (describing the situation after 1850): Doti, Salyan, and Palpa in the West and Dhankuta in the east (Adhikari 1979: 16); 3) a district office for maintaining law and order (cf. Karmacharya 2001: 91) established in the districts known as gauḍā. According to Adhikari this judicial offices were placed under responsible military officials—at first under kājīs or sardāras, and later on, under generals (janarala) and colonels (karṇela). In the Ain the chief officer of a gauḍā is referred to as hākima or mālika. Gauḍās decided original cases and served as appellate courts. They had jurisdiction regarding pañcakhata cases but could order a death sentence only after receiving a lālamohara from the kausala (Adhikari 1979: 16). The other levels of courts in the disctricts besides gauḍās or gaũḍā adālatas (cf. Adhikari 1984: 310) were: adālata (sometimes also called aḍḍās) and amāla (Adhikari 1979: 14). According to Kumar there were three "first courts of appeal" known as gauḍās covering twelve lower courts after the reorganisiation of the country's judiciary by Vīra Śamśera Jaṅga Bahādura Rāṇā in 1887: I. Palpa gauḍā (covering 1. Salyan, 2. Piuthan, 3. Pokhara, 4. Doti, 6. Bhagwanpur, 6. Taulihawa), II. Doti gauḍā (covering 7. Jumla, 8. Dailekh, 9. Banke, 10. Kanchanpur), III. Dhankuta gauḍā (covering 11. Morang, 12. Saptari) (Kumar 1967: 129f.).
gosvārā	[fr. A. gośavārā] var. gośvārā; n. 1) belonging to a single group or being an integral part of, common to several, joint. 2) chief, main, of the first level (gosvārā hulāka, gosvārā lagata, etc.). 3) an administrative office of a baḍāhākima that looks after the security affairs of the whole district during olden times (Parājulī 2010: 339).
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.
kumārī coka	n. office with the function of looking after audit and accounts and acting as a court of law for revenue (Whelpton 1991: 215; “Audit office“ (Krauskopff and Meyer 2000: 184 ; cf. Kumari Chok: Kumar 1967: 166 ); Kumari Chowk: "The Kumari Chowk is the General Office of account for the whole kingdom where all accounts of collections and contractors must be examined and passed, a fee of 5 rupees being taken for every Rs. 1000 of Bahi or Books so examined. The Kousi recommends the collector or contractor and is answerable for him. The Kumari Chowk merely takes his accounts; and those also of all great servants of the govt…(A)ll other lands (except those assigned as khangi) and revenues are accounted for once per annum in the Kumari Chowk (although) the Collector or Thekdar may pass 2 or 3 years without offering or being compelled to account; but when anyone does account it is to the Kumari Chowk and usually once per annum or sooner if (the collector) is ejected or changed. Bali (crops) that is not assigned as Khua and Khangi (emoluments) is called Ukas; also Sera or demesnes is accounted for in Kumari Chowk. Also all customs and excise ... (and accounts from the) mines, Hattisar, Kath Mahal, the Terai in all branches of receipts and charge, and in a word, the whole income and expenses of the Kingdom save Khua and Khangi or assignments in lieu of salary and pay. For (about) the last twenty years, the Kumari Chowk has exercised judicial functions like the other courts of the capital and with like powers civil and criminal. There is a separate hall for the Judicial corps ... (This Adalat) is for the investigation of revenue and quasi revenue cases… Of the general tax or fee of 5 (rupees) per 1000 on accounts passed, half goes to government and the other half in fixed proportions to the officers of the (office) down to the jamadars. Besides this, 5 rupees on each contractor's or collectors's total affairs are payable to the nousindas.“ (Edwards 1975: 111-112 )
phā̃ṭa	var. phāṭ, phāṭa, phā̃ṭ; n. “division or section of an office or a department“ (Adhikari 1984: 355).
Potā Aḍḍā	var. Potā, n. a tax office.
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.
ṭhānā / thānā	[fr. S. sthāna] n. a police or military office with semi-judicial functions responsible for upholding public order (cf. Adhikari 1984: 243). In the Mulukī Ain, adālatas, ṭhānās and amālas were the central institutions for judicial administration (see, for example, MA-KM 1854 1.5, 19 and 21).
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.

Bibliography

Fezas, Jean. 2000. Le Code Népalais (AIN) de 1853: Tome I Introduction Et Texte (Chapitres 1-86). Torino: Comitato per la Pubblicazione del Corpus Juris Sanscriticum.