Documenta Nepalica

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

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A copy of a lālamohara from King Gīrvāṇayuddha ordering that Vaijanātha Josī be provided certain items regularly (VS 1862)

ID: K_0029_0044B

Edited and translated by Astrid Zotter
Created: 2017-06-02; Last modified: 2023-02-17
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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

Abstract

This copy of a lālamohara from the king, who according to the date must have been Gīrvāṇayuddha, orders officials involved in the Dasaĩ celebrations at Gorkha to provide certain items to Vaijanātha Josī biannually for him to carry out the Upallokoṭa Dasaĩ rituals properly.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1९५नंरु

1मार्फतराधावल्लभ
2आगेगोर्षाकादसैगर्नजान्याभारादारप्रतीउपल्लोकोटकादसैकाश्रीदेव
3तावैजनाथजोसीकाघरमाराष्याकाछन्‌तिनकोसद्भावगर्नाकनठूला
4दसैमाचडीआव़र्त९तस्कोदछीणारूपैञा१आनाऽ//वलीकेभेडा१
5भेटीकेअधेली१धोती१पाषी१चैत्राष्टमीमाचंडीआव़र्त१तस्कोदछी
6नाआनाऽ//वलीकेवोका१भेटीअधेली१धोती१प्रतिप्रतिदसैमा
7दीन्यागरसर्वथाईतीसम्वत१८६२सालमितिआसीनवदी१रोजशुभ्म्१

Translation

[1r]

Num[ber] 95,1 ru2

Through (mārphata) Rādhāvallabha

Āge: To those courtiers (bhārādāra) who go to perform the Dasaĩ [rituals] at Gorkhā

The glorious deity [worshipped on occasion] of the Upallokoṭa Dasaĩ [observances] has been placed in the house of Vaijanātha Josī. In order to ensure that his conduct is proper, provide him, under all circumstances, on each of the two Dasaĩs with [the following items]:

On the Great (ṭhūlā) Dasaĩ:

1 rupee, 0 [sukās], 2 ānās3 as the priestly fee (dakṣiṇā) for 9 repetitions of the Caṇḍī, 1 ram for the animal sacrifice, 1 adhelī for bheṭī, 1 dhotī, 1 woolen blanket (pākhī);

on Caitrāṣṭamī:

0 [sukās], 2 ānās as the priestly fee for 1 repetition of the Caṇḍī, one he-goat for the animal sacrifice, 1 adhelī for bheṭī, 1 dhotī.

...day,4 the 1st of the dark fortnight of Āśvina of the [Vikrama] era year 1862 (1805 CE). Auspiciousness.

Commentary

This text, found in an assemblage of lālamoharas (see n. 1), in all likelihood is a copy of an executive order (rukkā) of King Gīrvāṇayuddha. Its text is not only preceded by the abbreviation ru but is also close in its phrasing to an original rukkā (DNA_0010_0019) regulating the annual provision of certain items to another ritual specialist involved in the Dasaĩ rituals at Gorkha.

The document is preceded by a copy (K_0029_0044A) of a related document appointing Vaijanātha Josī as priest for the Upallokoṭa Dasaĩ. The arrangement fixed by these two documents seems to have been a stable one. For more comments and follow-up documents, see Commentary to K_0029_0044A.

Notes

1. This number refers to the position of the document in an assemblage of lālamohara texts copied from the Jaisīkoṭhā. The bound material, microfilmed sequentially from K_0028_0032 (front cover and index) up to K_0031_0014B, covers the main body (i.e. excluding the initial and final formalities) of 303 royal documents from the period VS 1847–1864 concerning different guṭhīs. [⇑]

2. The abbreviation ru may either stand for rukkā and denote the type of the original lālamohara it was copied from or for ruju and express that the copy was "attested". [⇑]

3. The second numerical sign given here stands for a 2 and is the usual representation for the number of ānās. The first avagraha-shaped sign represents a 0 and refers to the number of sukās, the second of the usual numismatic units, falling between the rupee and ānā in terms of value. This follows the interpretation of numerical signs by Krauskopff and Deuel Meyer 2000: 136, doc. 18. [⇑]

4. The number to denote the weekday has been left out. In VS 1862, the said lunar day fell on a Tuesday. [⇑]

Glossary

Word	Notes
adhelī	n. monetary unit equal to a half paisā.
āge	[fr. S. agre] adv. lit. "henceforeward" (Riccardi 1976: 150 n. 6), especially used in administrative and legal documents to mark the beginning of a text or paragraph. In its function it is similar to uprānta.
ānā	[fr. S. āṇvaka- ?] n. 1) monetary unit worth one sixteenth of a rupee with four ānā*s constituting one sukā, equivalent to one ganḍā; in documents usually represented by one to three diagonal dashes, sometimes as a loop with two or three jags. 2) sixteenth part of land, property etc. (cf. Parājulī et al 1995: s.v. ānā).
bhāradāra / bhārādāra	var. bhārā n. lit. "burden bearer"; a generic term for high-level functionaries and courtiers.
bheṭī	var. bheṭa, bheṭi; n. money, often in the form of coins, offered to deities or revered persons.
caitrāṣṭamī	[S.] var. caitra aṣṭamī; n. eighth lunar day of the bright fortnight of the month of Caitra and major day of the Caitedasaĩ festival.
caṇḍī	[S.] n. 1) "the fierce one," name for a goddess, often for Durgā. 2) also (Durgā)saptaśatī; recitational form of the Devīmāhātmya, popularly recited on occasion of the Dasaĩ festival.
dakṣiṇā	[S.] var. dachiṇa, dachīnā, dachenā; sacrificial fee or wage paid to the priest at the end of a ritual.
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).
dhotī	[fr. S.] n. 1) rectangular piece of unstitched cloth wordn around the lower body, usually one end of which passes between the legs and is tucked in behind. 2) a cotton sari.
jaisīkoṭhā	n. an office usually considered to be a branch of the office treating with foreign affairs (Munsīkhānā) dealing with the foreign correspondencies to Tibet (see e.g. Kumar 1967: 166; Parājulī et al. 1995: s.v.). Adhikari, however, argues that the terms Munsīkhānā and Jaisīkoṭhā were used simultaneously to denote the same office (Adhikari 1984: 83-84). He assumes that the former refered to a location within Basantapur Palace while the latter denoted the office operated from there. That the Jaisīkoṭhā did not exclusively handle paper work related to the north is also evinced in a book of copies of 303 lālamoharas documented from K_0028_0032 (front cover and index) up to K_0031_0014B. These royal orders concern affairs of different guṭhīs both within the Kathmandu Valley and outside.
lālamohara	var. lālmohara, lālamohar, lālmohora; abbreviated mohara; n. royal document bearing the red seal.
mārphat / mārphata	var. marphaṭ, mārphaṭa; "through (the person of)" (Pant and Pierce 1989: 93).
pākhī	n. thick woolen blanket used in the cold season and handwoven in the mountainous regions of Nepal.
ruju	var. rujū; (physically) present, attested (Pant and Pierce 1989: 94; Krauskopff and Meyer 2000: 185).
rukkā	[fr. A. ruq'a] n. an executive order, short note, missive from the highest authority. The king, the crown prince, but also queens and the Rāṇā prime ministers issued rukkās.
sukā	var. sukī; n. monetary unit worth one fourth of a rupee, i.e. half of a silver mohara, and comprising four ānās; in documents the second of the four usual monetary fractions of the system based on the rupee, usually represented by either the avagraha-shaped sign for zero or one to three daṇḍas.

Bibliography

Krauskopff, Gisèle and Pamela Deuel Meyer. 2000. The Kings of Nepal & the Tharu of the Tarai. Los Angeles / Kirtipur: Rusca press / CNAS.