Documenta Nepalica

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

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A document from Dāsatvamocana Aḍḍā instructing the Guṭhī Bandobasta to waive a sum (VS 1984)

ID: K_0188_0054

Edited and translated by Axel Michaels in collaboration with Manik Bajracharya, Rajan Khatiwoda, and Raju Rimal
Created: 2017-02-14; Last modified: 2018-06-19
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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 document under the seal of the Dāsatvamocana Aḍḍā (Manumission Office) writes to the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā noting rupees 345 waived in a payment transfer in pursuance of an executive order from the premier and requesting a receipt for the payment.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

श्रीः\

[seal of Dāsatvamocana Aḍḍā]

1दासत्वमोचनअडावाटश्री५सर्कारगुठीवन्दोवस्तअडाके
2पुर्जी

1उप्रान्तप्यूठानाजील्लाइलाकाको•८०साल्का•लगतको•करियाकोमोल•धनिलाईदी•करियाअ
2 मलेख•गर्नेकाम्का•वासलातजाच•तेसअडावाटजाचमा•वेरुजुविगो•दन्दस्मेत्•ज्मामोरु३४५।
3तीनसयपैतालीसरूपैंञा•पक्राउछादिदीनुअरुसदरभनि•तोकफाटकामुनं•६०४कोखड्गनिसा
4ना•तोकसदरथां१यक•चलानिसाथ्‌•वुझाउनपठायाकोछ•वुझीलीयस्‌अडालाईभर्पाईपठाईदी
5नेकांभयावेस्होला•इतिसम्वत्१९८४सालपौख९गतेवार•७शुभ्म्[unknown signatures]

Translation

[1r]

Śrī

[seal of Dāsatvamocana Aḍḍā]

From Dāsatvamocana Aḍḍā to Śrī 5 Sarkāra Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā

Purjī

Uprānta: The investigation into the balance (vāsalāta) of the administrative unit (ilākā) of Pyūṭhāna district in [the year VS 18]80 regarding the matter of the emancipation of slaves after paying the price to the owners. "Leave out the unapproved amount totalling mohara rupaiya 345, three hundred forty-five rupees, containing the bigo and fines [that were determined] in the investigation by that office. The rest of [the accounting balance] has been approved." One copy of the written royal approval (khaḍganisāna tokasadara) of case no. 604 of the Toka Phãta has been sent together with the consignment to be submitted. It will be good if a receipt is sent back to this office after receiving the consignment.

Saturday, the 9th solar day (gate) of Pauṣa in the [Vikrama] era year 1984 (1927 CE). [May there be] auspiciousness.

Notes

Glossary

Word	Notes
bigo	var. bīgo, vīgo, bīgā; a payment substitute equal to the amount in question (e.g. damage). bīgo often comes with daṇḍa, a fine additionally to be paid. "Claimed amount" (Karmacharya 2001: 320)
ilākā	[fr. A. 'alāqa] n. an administrative unit smaller than a district (jillā) (Adhikari 1984: 349). According to Kumar a synonym for tahasila or jillā (Kumar 1967: 165).
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.
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	[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).
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.
vāsilāta	var. vāsalāta; annual account balance; a balance sheet of the yearly income and expenditure; record.