Documenta Nepalica

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

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A lālamohara from King Raṇabahādura to Lakṣmīnārāyana Putuvāra re the reward for building a dasaĩghara (VS 1849)

ID: K_0625_0039

Edited and translated by Astrid Zotter
Created: 2017-03-24; Last modified: 2018-06-15
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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, 2017. 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 lālamohara of King Raṇabahādūra announces a reward for Lakṣmīnārāyana Putuvāra for having built the dasaĩghara at the Mūlacoka of Kathmandu palace. It includes a garment of honour, money, and a land grant (birtā) to establish a guṭhi for the purpose of providing beaten rice (ciurā) to Brahmins serving Paśupatinātha in the month of Vaiśākha and to mendicants.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

[...]हाय\

⟪1⟫

श्रीपशुपतिनाथः

शिव

[royal seal]

1स्वस्तिश्रीगिरिराजचक्रचूडामणिनरनारायणेत्यादिविविधविरुदाव
2लिविराजमानमानोन्नतश्रीमन्महाराजाधिराजश्रीश्रीश्रीमहाराजेर
3णवहादूरसाहवहादूरसम्‌सेर्जङ्‌देवानाम्‌सदासमरविजयिनाम्
4आगे•लक्ष्मीनारायनपुतुव़ारके•सेहरकाठमाडौको•मूलचोककोदसै
5दसैंघरवनायाकोइनाम•सरसिरोपाव़कोहुँदो•औ•महिंद्रमलिरुपै
6याचारसयएक•पत्‌थरकलावंदुक्‌आठसलामिलिकिर्त्तिपूरको
7काडोलकाषेतमध्ये•रोपनिपचहत्तरी७५¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯कन•वैसाषमा
8जलचर्‍हाउन्या•व्राह्मणके•जनहि•कुरुवाएकचिहुरादिकन•से
9षरह्याको•फकिरफुकरालाइदिनुभनिगुठिराषनानिमित्य
10विर्त्तागरिवक्स्यौं•एस्‌¯ ¯निर्माल्यमाकालकालालक्ष्मीनारायन
11कासन्‌तानले•अरुकसैले•गुठमेट्‌नलोभराषनामापस्यापंचमहा
12पातक•लोभनराषिवनाउनामापस्याउत्तरोत्तरवृद्धि•हवस्‌आफ
13नाषातिर्जामासितगुठराष•सदावर्त्तचला•इतिसंवत्‌१८४९साल
14आषाडशुदि२रोज५मुकामकांतिपूरराजधानिशुभम्‌¯¯¯¯¯¯

1मार्फत्‌श्रीकृष्णसाहः
2रुजूशक्तिवल्लभमहाचार्यः

[1v]

मार्फतषजंचिगर्भु

Translation

[1r]

[May] Śrī Durgā help [us]!

Śrī Paśupatinātha

Śiva

[royal seal]

Hail! [A decree] of him who is shining with manifold rows of eulogy [such as] "The venerable crest-jewel of the multitude of mountain kings" and Naranārāyaṇa (an epithet of Kṛṣṇa) etc., high in honour, the venerable supreme king of great kings, the thrice venerable great king, Raṇabahādūra Sāha, the brave swordsman, the divine king always triumphant in war.

Āge: to Lakṣmīnārāyana Putuvāra.

As a reward for having built the dasaĩghara for the Dasaĩ[-rituals] of the Mūlacoka of Kathmandu City, we [herewith] grant for [his] well-being (hũdo) a full siropāva-garment and 401 mahendramallī (text: mahiṃdramali) rupees while receiving an eight-gun (lit. "eight-flintlock") salute; [in addition,] 75, [in words] seventy-five, ropanīs of wet-rice fields (kheta) of the Kāḍola [neighborhood?] of Kirtipur as a birtā in order to set up a guṭhi for the purpose of giving to mendicants (phakiraphukarā)1 what remains after giving one kuruvā of flattened rice (ciurā, text:cihurā) to the Brahmins who offer water to [Śrī Paśupatinātha]2 in [the month] Vaiśākha.

May the sin of committing [one of] the five heinous crimes (pañcamahāpātaka) [fall on] Lakṣmīnārāyana's descendants or anyone else who, [in] the future (kālakālā for kālakalā), becomes involved in coveting [funds] in order to wipe out the guṭha in [connection with] this bathing water (nirmālya)3 of [Śiva];4 [but] supreme growth [for him who] becomes involved in building/repairing [work] without coveting. Establish the guṭha [and] conduct the regular food distribution (sadābarta), being mindful of your duty (āphanā khātirjāmasita).

Thursday, the 2nd of the bright fortnight of Āṣāḍha in the [Vikrama] era year 1849 (1792 CE). Residence: Kantipur,5 the capital. Auspiciousness.

Through (mārphat) Śrīkṛṣṇa Sāha

Attested by (ruju) Śaktivallabha Mahācārya

[1v]

Through khajāncī Garbhu

Commentary

Copies of this lālamohara are extant as K_0087_0002 (of the Paśupatinātha Jāla Guṭhi po. 5, certified by bahīdāra Najaramāna? from Naradevīṭola) and K_0498_0007 (Po. no. 16 Gu. Bam., certified by someone from Naradevīṭola whose name is illegible, but ends with Putuvāra). Follow-up documents on the guṭhi established by this lālamohara are extant as K_0305_0026 (VS 1974) and K_0625_0040 (VS 1974).

The present document grants Lakṣmīnārāyana Putuvāra high honours. The garment of honour (siropāva) was given to newly appointed persons or to those who performed extraordinary tasks for the king (Krauskopff/Meyer 2000: 122-123). Was the building of a royal dasaĩghara such a service, or is it and the gun salute somehow also connected with the favour supposedly shown by Pṛthvīnārāyaṇa Śāha to the Putuvāras (also called Ḍuṅās or Rājavāhakas), a low Newar caste of porters? The vaṃśāvalīs record that a Putuvāra helped Pṛthvīnārāyaṇa to escape death during his first assault of Kirtipur. Because he saved the king's life by carrying him back to Nuvakot, the Putuvāras became "close to the king" (Bajracharya/Michaels 2016: 114, 134; Hasrat 1970: 90).

The service Lakṣmīnārāyana Putuvāra was rewarded for, namely the building of the dasaĩghara at the Mūlacoka, seems to have been part of a broader renovation scheme of Hanumānḍhokā palace under King Raṇabahādūra (for which see Slusser 1998: 198). Even if it cannot be ruled out completely that the dasaĩghara mentioned in the present document was located elsewhere in or around the Mūlacoka, it is likely to be the dasaĩghara (or a predecessor of it) adjacent to the eastern side of this courtyard (G. Vajrācārya 1976: 120-121), the exact period of whose construction remains unknown. The only dated item at the building is a bell which, according to its inscription, was donated by Queen Suvarṇaprabhā in VS 1859 (1802 CE; G. Vajrācārya 1976: 267; Dh. Vajrācārya/Śreṣṭha 1980: 352-353). Having studied its architecture, N. Gutschow (2011: II, 344-345 no. 29) assigns this building to the 20th century. The completion of the building the present document talks about can be pinned down to the year 1792.

As G. Vajrācārya has stressed, the dasaĩghara of Hanumānḍhokā is the only one of its kind added under the Śāhas to an old Malla palace. That this was probably part of a broader scheme to appropriate the palace and to re-adjust the courtly rituals to the needs of the new dynasty can also be inferred from the fact that "Śaktivallabha Mahācārya" signed the document. Śaktivallabha Arjyāla had been the king's purohita since Pṛthvīnārāyaṇa's time. He also composed court poems. In the same year the present document was issued he finished the Jayaratnākaranāṭaka (published as Arjyāla 1957).

Notes

1. The noun phakiraphukarā seems to denote mendicants in a general sense. In the copies of the document (K_0087_0002 and K_0498_0007) it is spelled phakīraphakarā and phakiraphakarā respectively. A follow-up document on the guṭhi (K_0625_0040) has phakīraphakeḍā, which is similar to phakiraphakirā, whose meaning Parājulī et al. (2015) give as "group of mendicants" (1. bhikhmaṅgā ādiko samūha; 2. jogī, sannyāsīko baṭulo). [⇑]

2. Inserted from the space above. [⇑]

3. Usually this term denotes all remnants of offerings, but Parājulī et al. (2015) record as a second, more specific meaning "water, in which a deity has been bathed" (devatālāī nuhāeko jala). The whole phrase es śivanirmālyamā remains obscure. The present translation assumes that it reflects the guṭhi's support for the Brahmins bathing Paśupatinātha. [⇑]

4. Inserted from the space above. [⇑]

5. Note that the city of Kathmandu is referred in the document under two different names. When the place where the building was erected is being referred to, it is called sehara kāṭhamāḍau, "city of Kathmandu"; when the place of issue, kāṃtipūra rājadhāni, "Kantipur, the capital." Is this scribal arbitrariness, or does it reflect a distinction between the city as a physical entity and the capital as the administrative centre of the kingdom? [⇑]

Word	Notes
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.
bahīdāra / baidāra	var. bahidāra; n. lit. "record-keeper". 1) accountant, clerk, scribe; civil functionary entrusted with writing official documents, ranking above the nausindā (cf. Adhikari 1984: 345; Parājuli et al. 1995). 2) a military functionary (cf. Kumar 1967: 164).
birtā	[fr. S. vṛtti] var. birttā, bīrttā, vṛtā, vṛttā; n. a royal land grant. For discussion, see M.C. Regmi 1976: 22-37.
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).
dasaĩghara	var. dasaighara; n. lit. "house for dasaĩ;" ritual arena for worshipping the goddess Durgā on the occasion of dasaĩ, either in a room or building exclusively used for this purpose (see K_0625_0039), or temporarily erected within another building.
guṭha / guṭhi / guṭhī	[fr. S. goṣṭhī] var. guṭh, guthi; n. 1) a socio-religious organization that manages and finances religious and charitable functions, a trust. 2) “endowed lands or other sources of revenue for financing religious and charitable functions“ (M.R. Pant 2002: 132; cf. M.C. Regmi 1988: 267).
khajāncī	[fr. P. khajānacī] var. khajaṃci; n. 1) treasurer. 2) chief royal treasurer and hākima of the kausī tosākhānā.
kheta	[fr. S. kṣetra] var. khet, kheṭ; n. 1) irrigated land in the hill region suitable for the cultivation of rice and wheat. 2) a measure of land in the hill region equal to 25 ropanīs or 100 murīs (ca. 1.25 hectares) (M.C. Regmi 1999: 136-137 ; cf. M.C. Regmi 1999: 234 ; M.C. Regmi 1978: 162 ; M.C. Regmi 1978: 227 ; M.C. Regmi 1978: 860 ; M.C. Regmi 1995: 77; Adhikari 1984: 351; M.R. Pant 2002: 133; Whelpton 1991: 284 ).
kuruvā	var. kurvā; 1) n. volumetric unit equivalent to two mānās, or 20 muṭhīs. 2) a brazen vessel for measuring two mānās.
lālamohara	var. lālmohara, lālamohar, lālmohora; abbreviated mohara; n. royal document bearing the red seal.
mahendramallī	var. mahiṃdramali; n. monetary unit first coined by King Mahendra Malla (r. 1560-1574), consisting of 16 ānās and equivalent to half of a Mogul rupee (cf. Walsh 1908: 683-684).
mārphat / mārphata	var. marphaṭ, mārphaṭa; “through (the person of)“ (Pant and Pierce 1989: 93).
pañcamahāpātaka	[S.] n. five grave sins or offenses causing loss of caste, enumerated as: killing a Brahmin, drinking intoxicating liquor, theft, committing adultery with the wife of one's teacher or elder, and associating with anyone guilty of these crimes (Manusmṛti 11.257) (Olivelle 2015: 315).
purohita / pureta	[fr. S. purohita] var. prohita, prohīt; n. 1) house-priest called to carry out domestic rituals, chaplain. 2) house-priest and principal advisor of the king; cf. rājapurohita. 3) generic term for priests officiating in rituals.
ropanī	[fr. S.] var. ropani; n. unit of land measurement in the hill region, including the Kathmandu Valley, comprising four murīs. The area may vary according to the grade, but current standard area for a ropanī comprises 5,476 square feet (cf. M.C. Regmi 1999: 235 ; M.C. Regmi 1978: 864; Whelpton 1991: 286; M.C. Regmi 1995: 77; M.C. Regmi 1978: 163; M.C. Regmi 1988: 270).
ruju	var. rujū; (physically) present, attested (Pant and Pierce 1989: 94; Krauskopff and Meyer 2000: 185).
sadābarta	[S. sadāvrata] var. sadāvartta, sadāvarta, sadābartta; n. 1) regular distribution of alms or food to mendicants, guests, pilgrims or the poor (cp. Adhikari 1984: 356). 2) a kitchen where raw or cooked food is supplied to these groups (cp. M.C. Regmi 1978b: 864). 3) a charitable foundation for the provision of food to poor, mendicants and pilgrims (cp. M.C. Regmi 2002: 302).
siropāva	[H.] n. long robe (from head to toe) given as garment of honour by the king. According to Krauskopff and Meyer this garment, together with royal blessings (darśana) were "bestowed on newly-appointed individuals when they made their command appearance before the king or his representative" (Krauskopff and Meyer 2000: 122-123) and to "those who performed exceptional tasks for the king".
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.