Documenta Nepalica

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

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A darkhāsta from Vimalāramaṇa Rājopādhyā to the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā requesting material provisions for installing a new Kumārī (VS 1980)

ID: K_0214_0044

Edited and translated by Astrid Zotter in collaboration with Raju Rimal
Created: 2018-10-15-; Last modified: 2019-04-10
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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, 2019. 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

In this application (darkhāsta) filed with the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā, the priest Vimalāramaṇa Rājopādhyā requests 29.25 rupees for installing a new Kumārī to be worshipped during the Dasaĩ festival at the Patan Taleju temple. The replacement is necessary, as the former Kumārī, who had been installed in VS 1976, had recently bled after losing a tooth.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1श्री\

111

1दर्षास्त
2ऊप्रान्तपाटंश्रीतलेज्यूमावडादसैकोपुजामारअरुपर्वपर्वमास्मेतपुजा
3गर्नुपर्नेकुमारीसावीक्‌७६सालमागुलवन्दकोल्हंगा१वापतातिन
4षापकोचोलो१लालकपडाकोपछ्यौरा१स्मेतज्मापोसाक्‌थान३
5के⟪सहीपुजास्मेत्‌केसही⟫रकौसीतोसाषानावाटमोरु९।२५पुजाकेर⟪सहीवि⟫भोजकेचाहिनेठेकदार
6वाटमोरु२०।स्मेतज्मामोरु२९।२५षर्चगरीस्थापनागरीराषेको
7हालदातझरीषुनभयाकोलेयो८०सालकोवडादसैलाईअर्को
8नञाकुमारीस्थापनानगरेकापक्षमाश्रीतलेज्यूमावडादसैको
9पुजास्मेतअडकनेभय़ाकोलेजाहेरगर्नआय़ाकोछुये़स्माअर्को
10नञाकुमारीस्थापनागर्नालाईसावीक्‌वमोजिंगुलवंदकोल्हंगा
11१वापतातिनषापकोचोलो१लालकपडाकोपछ्यौरा१स्मेतज्मा
12पोसाक्‌थान३केरपुजासराजाम्‌केस्मेतमोरु९।२५रभोजकोस
13राजाम्‌लाईचाहिनेमोरु२०।स्मेतज्मामोरु२९।२५ऊनंतिस्‌रुपैय़ाप
14चीस्‌पैसा•पाऊय़ोवेहोरानठहरेऐंवमोजिंवुझाऊला¯¯¯¯¯¯
15पाटंगावाहालप्यंगठावश्नेपुजाहारीवीमला
16रमणराजोपाध्यालेदर्षास्तलेषीश्री५सर्कार
17गुठीवन्दा⟪सहीवस्तसहीवि⟫अडामार्फतश्री५सर्कारमाचढाञ्याँ
18ईतिसम्वत१९८०सालआश्वीनं१८गतेरोज५शुभ्म्¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯

1सहीविमलारमणउपाध्यागावाहाल

Translation

[1r]

Śrī

111

Application (darkhāsta)

Uprānta: The Kumārī to be worshipped during the pūjā [on occasion] of Baḍādasaĩ at the Pāṭaṃ Śrī Talejyū [temple] and during other festivals was regularly installed in the year [VS 19]76 at a total cost of 29.25 mohararūpaiyā̃s—9.25 morus from the Kausī Tosākhānā for 3 pieces of clothing, [namely] 1 lower garment (lahãgā) [made of] gulabanda2 fabric, 1 three-layered blouse (colo) [made of] bāpatā fabric, 1 headscarf (pachyaurā) of red fabric, and for the pūjā;3 together with 20 morus from contractors (ṭhekadāra), which [sum was] needed for the feast. Blood appeared when recently a tooth [of hers] fell out, and [if it gets] to the point that another new Kumārī has not been installed for this year’s [VS 19]80 Baḍādasaĩ, then even the worship on Baḍādasaĩ at the Śrī Talejyū [temple] is set to be obstructed, wherefore I have come to bring this to your notice. In this regard—in order to install another new Kumārī according to what is usual—[I request that I] may receive altogether 29.25 morus, [in words] twenty-nine rupees, twenty-five paisās—9.25 morus for 3 pieces of clothing, [namely] 1 lower garment [made of] gulabanda fabric , 1 three-layered blouse [made of] bāpatā fabric, and 1 headscarf of red fabric, and for the pūjā materials; together with 20 morus for materials for the feast. If these details are not correct, I will compensate according to the law.

Pūjāhārī Vīmalāramaṇa Rājopādhyā, living at Pāṭaṃ, Gā Bāhāla, Pyāṃga Ṭhā, has written [this] darkhāsta and has submitted it to His Majesty's Government (Śrī 5 Sarkāra) through the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā 4 .

Thursday, the 18th solar day (gate) of Āśvina in the [Vikrama] era year 1980 (4 October 1923 CE). Auspiciousness.

Signature: Vimalāramaṇa Upādhyā [from] Gā Bāhāla.

Commentary

The present document is an application by a Rājopādhy(āy)a priest to receive funds for installing a new Kumārī worshipped at the Patan Taleju temple during the Dasaĩ and other festivals. It thus deals with a replacement for a former royal Kumārī of the Malla kings of Patan. The worship of the goddess Kumārī in prepubescent girls is a well-known institution in Nepalese religion (Allen 1975) going back at least to the late 15th century (Tree 2014: 162). The Patan Kumārī is regularly chosen among daughters of the Vajrācārya community belonging to Hakha Bāhāla (Allen 1975: 21–31). The present document does not disclose any details about the actual identity of the girls involved. The only detail reported is what necessitated the replacement, namely the appearance of blood when the Kumārī installed four years earlier lost a tooth. Bleeding and the loss of a tooth are among the typical disqualifying events that call for an immediate replacement of the girl who embodies the goddess (ibid.: 26). Though the present document does not say so, the priest who filed it could well have been a pujārī, or even the main pujārī, of the Taleju temple. The mūlapujārī, from the Rājopādhyāya community, is directly involved in the selection of the Kumārī and performs the installation ritual (ibid.: 22). The attendant feast mentioned in the document may have been the one held after the installation ritual for the newly embodied goddess together with the main priest's agnatic kin and their spouses (ibid.: 24).

The best occasion for installing a new Kumārī is the great eighth (Mahāṣṭamī), the eighth lunar day of the bright fortnight of Āśvina (Allen 1975: 23). Regardless of when she is installed, though, the Kumārī is worshipped in the Taleju temple from Mahānavamī until Vijayadaśamī, and again on the fourteenth, of each Dasaĩ period (ibid.: 28–29). As the present document speaks about an impending obstruction of the Dasaĩ ritual, the intention may have been to install the new Kumārī before or on Mahāṣṭamī of the year VS 1980 (1923 CE). The document is dated the day corresponding to 4 October of that year, which was the 9th of the dark half of Āśvina in the lunar reckoning, thus two weeks before Mahāṣṭamī, which fell on 18 October 1923.

It is not known whether the installation of the new Kumārī was performed successfully, and if so, on which day before or during the Dasaĩ period of 1923. But at least three related documents, issued by the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā, that support the present application are extant, namelypurjīs to the Kausī Tosākhānā (K_0214_0045, K_0214_0047) and to the Guṭhī Kharca Aḍḍā (K_0214_0046), each with requests to disburse the funds specified in the present document. As these documents seem to be drafts, it is not clear whether, and if so when, the official documents were forwarded to the respective offices or whether and when the funds were disbursed to the priest; see the editions of these documents for further details.

Notes

1. This Arabic numeral by a second hand was probably added when documents were either sorted or, more likely, when they were microfilmed. The count starts with 1 in the document microfilmed as NGMPP K 214/34 and continues up to 140 in K 215/85. The documents in this series stem from the period between VS 1977 and 1981 and are all either issued by the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā or are addressed to this office; all bear the same shelf mark (Po. 2 Ka. Ko. Gu.). This shelf mark is, however, not exclusive to the batch, but extends from K 214/9 up to K 216/88. The documents counted are neither bound together nor do they have to do with some common topic. [⇑]

2. Like the following bapatā, gulbanda seems to refer to the fabric the garment is made of. In Hindi, gulabadana denotes a type of silken cloth that is described as being striped (Varmā VS 2054: s.v. : "eka prakāra kā dhārīdāra reśamī kapaṛā") or rose-coloured (Sharma and Vermeer 1987: s.v.: "rosenfarbiges Seidentuch"). [⇑]

3. The phrase pujāsmet ke has been added above the line after the phrase thāna 3 ke, its beginning and end being marked by "signature" (sahī), and pujāke ra after moru 9 | 25 has been deleted, the correction being marked by sahī vi, "signed [by] Vi[malāramaṇa]", written from bottom to top across the deleted text. [⇑]

4. The akṣaras "vasta" have been added above the line. The correction is signed, its beginning being marked by "signature" (sahī), its end by sahī vi, "signed [by] Vi[malāramaṇa]". [⇑]

Glossary

Word	Notes
baḍā dasaĩ	var. baḍā dasai; also mahā dasaĩ; n. festival to worship the goddess Durgā as slayer of the buffalo demon, held over the bright half of the autumn month of Āśvina. Cf. dasaĩ / daśaĩ.
bāpatā	n. a kind of thick silk-like cloth.
colo	n. upper part of a woman's dress, wrap-around blouse tightened with four strabs.
darakhāsta / darkhāsta	[fr. P.] n. petition, application by an individual to an governmental office.
dasaĩ / daśaĩ	[fr. S. daśāha] var. dasai; n. festival to worship the goddess Durgā as slayer of the buffalo demon, held over the bright half of the autumn month of Āśvina (baḍā dasaĩ) and, on a smaller scale, over the bright half of the spring month of Caitra (caite dasaĩ).
Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā	var. Guṭhī 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 Kharca Aḍḍā	n. office responsible for managing the expenses of the guṭhīs working under the head of the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā; two separate Guṭhī Kharca Aḍḍās managed the śrī 5 sarkāra guṭhīs and the śrī 3 sarkāra guṭhīs.
kausī tosākhānā	n. central state treasury which served several additional functions like the expenses and storage of goods for the royal palace and the appointment of subbās in the Tarai (cf. Edwards 1975: 111). DNA_0011_0035 suggests that even though the Kausī and the Tosākhānā formed one administrative unit headed by the khajāñcī, to a certain extent both were treated as distinct entities.
lahãgā	n. women's lower garment, long skirt worn by women or as part of traditional dance outfits.
mohararupaiyā̃	var. mohararupaiyām, mohararūpaiyā, moharaṭaṃkā (New.); often abbreviated as moru, morū, moharu, moharū, moharru, mohorru; n. monetary unit based on and equivalent to two eight-anna silver coins (moharas); in calculations usually broken down into four sukās, 16 ānās or 64 paisās (cf. Pant and Pierce 1989: 93) or 256 dāmas; the exchange ratio with paisās was calculated differently at different times and in different parts of the kingdom, depending on the relative values of silver and copper, ranging between 52 and 80 paisās (Regmi 1982: 73). In documents sums are represented in four numerical fractions, with the rupaiyā represented by numbers; the sukās by one to three daṇḍas or the avagraha sign representing zero; the ānās by one to three diagonal dashes, sometimes as a loop with two or three jags; the paisās again by daṇḍas or numbers; the dāmas by numbers or horizontal dashes.
pachyaurā	var. pachaurā; n. kerchief for covering the head.
paisā	n. 1) money. 2) in the early Śāha period: monetary unit, one-fourth of an ānā, consisting of four dāmas with 64 paisās in 1 rūpaiyā̃. 3) in the Rāṇā period: monetary unit with 100 paisās in 1 rūpaiyā̃.
pūjā	[S.] var. pujā; n. 1) worship, honour. 2) formal worship ritual of a revered being with offerings.
pūjārī / pūjāhārī	var. pujārī, pujāhārī; n. person formally appointed to conduct the worship (pūjā) of a deity and therewith earning one's livelyhood, temple priest.
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.
rājopādhyāya	[S.] var. rājopādhya; n. lit. "teacher of the king". 1) name or title granted to or adopted by certain Brahmin groups; 2) Brahmin group (also known as devabhāju) who had served the Malla kings and continue officiating as domestic priests in the higher Hindu Newar castes and at temples.
śrī	[S.] n. word of blessing, can be used as apprecatio, in which case it means 'good fortune' (Pant and Pierce 1989: 12), can be used as a prefix to names of persons and gods, in which case it means 'venerable' or 'glorious' respectively. The number of śrīs used varies, depending on context.
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).
ṭhekadāra	var. ṭhekaḍāra, ṭhekādār, ṭhikidār, ṭhekdār; n. contractor. 1) person who holds a ṭheka for the collection of taxes (M.C. Regmi 1988: 270). 2) farmer who rents his land.
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.
vajrācārya	[S.] n. lit. "master of the vajra"; sub-caste among the Newars who are elligible to receiving the highest initiations in Newar Buddhism and to officiate as domestic priests and gurus.

Bibliography

Allen, Michael. 1975. The Cult of Kumari: Virgin Worship in Nepal. Kathmandu: INAS.
Sharma, Aryendra and Hans J. Vermeer. 1987. Hindi-Deutsches Wörterbuch. Vol 1: a - jhauvā. 2nd ed. Heidelberg: J. Groos Verlag.
Tree, Isabella. 2014. "A House for the Living Goddess: On the Dual Identity of the Kumari Chen in Kathmandu." South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 37 (1): 156-178.
Varmā, Rāmacandra. VS 2054. Saṃkṣipta Hiṃdī Śabdasāgara. Varanasi: Nāgarīpracāriṇī Sabhā.