Documenta Nepalica

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

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A letter from Jagata Jaṅga Bahādura Rāṇā to officials in Kutāṅbhoṭ regarding Dasaĩ practices (VS 1934)

ID: E_3446_0011

Edited and translated by Astrid Zotter
Created: 2018-06-21; Last modified: 2020-08-05
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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 letter from the eastern commanding general, Jagata Jaṅga Rāṇā, issued to officials in Kutāṅbhoṭ in the Aṭhāra Saya Kholā region, exempts villages from any obligation to sacrifice buffaloes and goats on the occasion of the Dasaĩ festival in view of the fact that the jimmāvāla of the region had earlier been granted the authority to have this festival performed according to the usual practice in the region, where blood sacrifices were avoided.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

[seal of Jagata Jaṅga Bahādura Rāṇā]

1स्वस्तिश्रीमद्राजकुमारकुमारात्मजपुर्वतर्फकाकम्या
2डिङजनरल•श्रीजगतजङ्गवहादूरराणाकस्यपत्रम्‌
3आगेअठारसयखोलामध्येकुताङ्‌भोट्‌काजिंमा
4वालरगाउगाउकामुषियाहरूकेयथोचितउप्रान्त•
5हामीलाइ•गरीवक्स्याकालोकाभारकोपट्टामा १¯ ¯ ¯ कादसैमा
6मुलीषर्चजोछसाविकवमोजिम•कत⟪ट्ट्⟫ीनघटाइठेकवाहेक
7चलाउनुभंन्यामुद्रालेषीयाकोछ•हाम्रागाउगाउमाभंन्या
8¯ ¯१ ¯ कादसैपुजामा•राँगावोकावलीपुजागर्न्यारीतछैनघ्यां
9ङ्‌मा¯१¯ ¯ लाइदसैपुजामाधुपदिपवत्तीवालीपुजागर्न्यामात्र
10रीतछभंन्यावेहोराजिम्मवालछिमदोर्ज्येलेहाम्राहजुरमावि
11न्तिपार्दा•जाहेरभयोतसर्थ•दसैमार¯१¯ ¯ लाइराँगावोकाकोवली
12पुजागर्न्या•रीतनचल्याकोसाचोहोभन्यातिमीहरूकागाउगाउ
13मासाविकचलिआयाकाथितीवमोजिमधुपवत्तीगरीपुजागर्नु
14साविक्‌•थितीवमोजिमदसैपुजाचलायाकामातिमीहरूला
15इषतवातलागन्याछैनभंन्यादस्षतगरीवक्स्यौइतीसम्वत्
16१९३४सालमितीमाघवदी१०रोज२शुभ्ं

Translation

[1r]

[seal of Jagata Jaṅga Bahādura Rāṇā]

Hail! A letter of the venerable prince, son of a prince, the eastern commanding general, Śrī Jagata Jāṅga Bahādura Rāṇā

Āge: To the chief contractor (jimmāvāla) and the village headmen (mukhiyā) of Kutāṅbhoṭ in Aṭhāra Saya Kholā

Yathocita uprānta: [The following] details came to our notice when Jimmāvāla Chima Dorje made a petition to us, stating: "In the lokābhāra lease contract (paṭṭā) issued to us a sealed authorization (mudrā) is written, stating: 'Besides [the commitments under] the contract (ṭheka), arrange for what are the ordinary expenses during the Dasaĩ [worship] of -1-1 without any reduction in the previous outlay.' As to [what is done] in our villages during the Dasaĩ worship for [*deities], there is no custom of performing worship with the sacrifice of buffaloes and goats. There is only the custom of performing worship at the ghyāṅ by lighting incense and lamps during the Dasaĩ worship of [*deities]." Therefore, if it is true that there is no custom of performing worship with the sacrifice of buffaloes and goats during the Dasaĩ period and to [*deities], then perform worship in your villages by employing incense and lamps according to the practice (thiti) that is usually performed. We [hereunto] set our hand (daskhatagaribaksyaũ), [pledging] that no charges will be pressed against you for continuing the Dasaĩ worship according to the customary practice.

Monday, the 10th of the dark fortnight of Māgha of the [Vikrama] era year 1934 (28 January 1878 CE).

Commentary

This document exempts the villages of Kutāṅbhoṭ from any obligation to sacrifice animals on the occasion of Dasaĩ. Issued by the eastern commanding general, it refers to a previous petition (probably a formal bintīpatra) submitted by the holder of the tax contract, the local jimmāvāla Chima Dorje. The petition is cited verbatim, including a quoted section of the tax contract that served as the official written appointment of Chima Dorje to his post. Though this earlier contract does not appear to be extant—at least it is not part of what was microfilmed in the same set of documents as the present one (i.e. reels NGMPP 3446 and 3447, microfilmed at Prok, Nubri, collection of Tsering Wangdu)—there is a lokābhāra contract concerning Sāmāgāu, issued by Candra Śamśera to Jimmāvāla Dorjye Ḍhaṃdul in Phālguna VS 1957 (1901 CE), which has a similar passage reading: -3-kā jātrā dasaipujā māmulī ṣarca kehi garnu parne bhayā sāvīk bamojīm kati naghaṭāī ṭekbahek calāunu, "Besides [the commitments under] the contract (ṭheka), arrange for whatever is to be done and what are the usual expenses for the processions (jātrā) and the Dasaĩ worship for -3- (the upper part of this document, like that of the present one, is broken off) without any reduction in the previous outlay." (E_3446_0022, ll. 30–31).2 Referring to such a passage, Chima Dorje claims the right to follow the customary practice of not performing blood sacrifice and is granted it.

People in the Aṭhāra Saya Kholā region seem to have generally adopted a critical stance towards killing animals. In Tsum, a declaration was released in 1921 (and reformulated several times on subsequent occasions) which commits people to refrain from violence against animals (see Plachta forthcoming).

An exemption being made to the villages of Kutāṅbhoṭ together with a guarantee that no charges will be pressed against villagers who do not sacrifice presupposes an actual obligation imposed by the state to perform blood sacrifices on the occasion of the Dasaĩ festival; on administrative measures having to do with buffalo sacrifices, see Zotter forthcoming.

Notes

1. As the upper part of the document is broken off, what was written in the space, including the invocatio, is lost. The space numbered 1 must have contained either the name of a local deity or, in keeping with the general character of the statement, a phrase denoting deities in general. Document E_2782_0009 has śrīdevadevatā in the corresponding place. Assuming that a similar phrase was inserted in the present case, the translation uses "*deities" as the filler for this blank space. [⇑]

2. See also the parallel passages in L_0922_0003 from VS 1959 (1903 CE) and L_1200_0009I from VS 1993 (1937 CE). [⇑]

Glossary

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.
bintīpatra	[fr. S.] var. bintipatra, biṃtipatra, bīntīpatram; n. formal letter written to an authority; more specifically, a petition or request letter. Cf. bintī.
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).
daskata / daskhata	[fr. P. dastkhata]; n. 1) signature, especially that of the prime minister (Adhikari 1984: 347); 2) a missive signed by the prime minister (see also lālamohara daskhata and rukkā daskhata or another high official.
ghyāṅ	[fr. Tib.] n. 1) place for Buddhist worship according to the Tibetan tradition; "Buddhist monastery in the northern regions of Nepal" (M.C. Regmi 1978: 858); cf. gumbā.
jimmāvāla	var. jimavāla, jimmavāla, jimvāla; n. a chief contractor (ṭhekedāra) who, before the introduction of the land administration, collected revenues from the lands in the hill region and submitted them to the government (Parājulī et al. 1995: s.v. jimmāvāla).
lokābhāra	[S.] n. "a system under which the local community undertook liability for payment of the stipulated revenue through a representative designated for that purpose" (M.C. Regmi 1978: 162)
mukhiyā	var. mukhīyā, muṣiyā, muṣīyā; n. a designation for an administrative post used at the local, district and central level. At the local level mukhiyās functioned as village headmen and revenue functionaries (Pant and Pierce 1989: 93; M.R. Pant 2002: 134; cf. M.C. Regmi 1988: 269). District headmen were also called mukhiyās. In the central administration, mukhiyās were writers who kept accounts or supervised officials of lower ranks (Edwards 1975: 107 ; cf. M.C. Regmi 1978: 228 ; M.C. Regmi 1978: 862 ; Kumar 1967: 16).
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.
ṭheka	var. thega; n. "generic term used to denote various categories of contractual systems for the collection of taxes" (Michael 2012: 135; cf. M.C. Regmi 1988: 270).
thiti	[fr. S. sthiti] var. sthiti, thīti; n. 1) custom, tradition. 2) arrangement, order. See also rītithiti.
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.
yathocita uprānta	See uprānta.

Bibliography

Plachta, Nadine. . #Dissertation thesis#. : .
Zotter, Astrid. 2021. "Who Kills the Buffalo? Authority and Agency in the Ritual Logistics of the Nepalese Dasaĩ Festival." In: Nine Nights of Power: Durgā, Dolls and Darbars, edited by Ute Hüsken; Vasudha Narayanan and Astrid Zotter, 193–220. New York: State University of New York Press.