Documenta Nepalica

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

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A receipt for Phurva Gāũ’s payment of goḍadhuvā for Princess Prāṇa Lakṣmī's wedding (VS 1955)

ID: Tsum_0001_0001

Edited and translated by Nadine Plachta and Rajendra Shakya
Created: 2017-05-14; Last modified: 2020-07-10
For the metadata of the document, click here

Published by Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities: Documents on the History of Religion and Law of Pre-modern Nepal, Heidelberg, Germany, 2018. Published with the support of the Nile Labrang, Tsum. The copyright of the facsimile remains with Nadine Plachta. 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 is a receipt for the payment of goḍadhuvā for the marriage ceremony of Princess Prāṇa Lakṣmī Devī Śāha. The amount was submitted by Phurva Gāũ in the Aṭhāra Saya Kholā region.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1श्री५साहाज्यादीप्राणलक्ष्मीदेवी
2१

[Seal with number 49]

[Vedāma seal]

[Śrī Goḍadhuvā seal]

[Seal of Nainasī Basnyāta]

[Unknown seal]

1स्वस्तिश्रीपश्चिम१लम्मरवक्यौतातहसीलअडाकस्येपत्रम्
2आगेदाषीलाआम्दानीजील्लैसल्यानथुंअठारसयेषोलामौ
3जेफुर्वगाउँका५२सालकावालीमालागेको¯ ¯ ¯कावा
4वाहकोगोडधुवाकालगत्‌वमोजीम्‌श्रीभैरवीदल्‌२पट्टीकासु
5वेडारनैनसीवस्न्यात्‌छेत्रसाछीवसीस्हीछापगरेवमोजिमअ
6सुलभैआयाकोछसोमुषियाधोजनलामालेस्हीछापगरी
7बुझायाकोज्मारु•२३|||३|||तेइसरुपैञापद्रआनातीन
8पैसाषरीडारधिर्जसुन्दरमार्फत्‌‌कातहवील्डारकुल्वाहादुर
9नाम्मातहवील्डाषीलभयोतस्कोरसीदगरीदीञ्यूं

[table1]

तपसिल्

1	आसामी	मोरु	१६गंडीरु	ज्मारु
2	द्वार्‍याघर१के	∙	१\|	१\|∙
3	मुषीयाघर१के	∙	१	१
4	पट्टावमोजीमकोठेकमोहरु२६५केदर सैक्रा२\|\|लेमोहरु	६\|\|//	∙	६\|\|//
5	ढाक्रेघर
6	अव़लघर७केदर\|\|ले	∙	३\|\|	३\|\|
7	दोयमघर६केदर\|ले	∙	१\|\|	१\|\|
8	सीमघर६केदर///ले	∙	१//	१//
9	चाहारघर६केदर//ले	∙	\|\|\|	\|\|\|
10	घट्ट
11	अव़लघट्ट३केदर१ले	∙	३	३
12	दोयमघट्ट२केदर\|\|\|ले	∙	१\|\|	१\|\|
13	घट्टेराघर
14	अव़लघट्टेराघर३केदर\|\|\|ले	∙	२\|	२\|
15	दोयमघट्टेराघर२केदर\|\|ले	∙	१	१
16	टीपकर्ल३१केदरʃ \|ले	∙	\|///\|\|\|	\|///\|\|\|
17		६\|\|//	१७\|/\|\|\|	२३\|\|\|///\|\|\|

10इतीसम्मत१९५५सालमीतीज्येष्टसुदी१५रोज७श्भ्म्

[Unknown seal]

Translation

[1r]

Her Royal Highness Princess Prāṇa Lakṣmī Devī 1 - 1

[Vedāma seal]

[Śrī Goḍadhuvā seal]

[Seal of Naina Sī2 ]

[Unknown seal]

Hail! A letter from the Bakyautā Tahasīla Aḍḍā, West number 1

Āge: the entry of revenue from the thuma of Salyāna [?]3 [within the West number 1] district, [collected from] Phurva 4 Gāũ mauje

The goḍadhuvā [fee imposed] for the crops of the year [VS 19]52 for the marriage of ¯ ¯ ¯ [Princess Prāṇa Lakṣmī Devī]5 was collected and received as detailed in the list [below,] under the signature of Subedāra Naina Sī Basnyāt Chetrī 6 of Company 2 of the Bhairavī Dala as the witness [from the region]. The amount, totalling 23 rupees, 3 sukās 3 ānās, 3 paisās (twenty-three rupees, 15 ānās 3 paisās), was paid into the treasury by Mukhiyā Dhojan Lāmā under his signature, [going] through Kharidāra Dhīrja Sundara [and received and] attested by Tahabildāra Kul Bāhādura. [We] have issued a receipt for the same.

[table1]

Details

Items (āsāmī)	moru	16-gaṃḍī rupees	Total rupees
For 1 house of the dvāre	∙	1 rupee 1 sukā	1 rupee 1 sukā
For 1 house of the mukhiyā	∙	1 rupee	1 rupee
Contractual fee (ṭheka) of 2 rupees 2 sukās per 100 [rupees] for the lease amount (paṭṭā) of 265 moharus	6 rupees 2 sukās 2 ānās	∙	6 rupees 2 sukās 2 ānās
Ḍhākre houses
For 7 houses of the first category (avala) at the rate of 2 sukās each	∙	3 rupees 2 sukās	3 rupees 2 sukās
For 6 houses of the second category (doyama) at the rate of 1 sukā each	∙	1 rupee 2 sukās	1 rupee 2 sukās
For 6 houses of the third category (sima) at the rate of 3 ānās each	∙	1 rupee 2 ānās	1 rupee 2 ānās
For 6 houses of the fourth category (cāhāra) at the rate of 2 ānās each	∙	3 sukās	3 sukās
Mills (ghaṭṭa)
For 3 mills of the first category at the rate of 1 rupee each	∙	3 rupees	3 rupees
For 2 mills of the second category at the rate of 3 sukās each	∙	1 rupee 2 sukās	1 rupee 2 sukās
Houses of mill operators (ghaṭerā ghara)
For 3 houses of mill operators of the first operator at the rate of 3 sukās each	∙	2 rupees 1 sukā	2 rupees 1 sukā
For 2 houses of mill operators of the second operator at the rate of 2 sukās each	∙	1 rupee	1 rupee
For 31 tīpa karlas7 at the rate of 1 paisā each	∙	1 sukā 3 ānās 3 paisās	1 sukā 3 ānās 3 paisā
	6 rupees 2 sukās 2 ānās	17 rupees 1 sukā 1 ānā 3 paisās	23 rupees 3 sukās 3 ānās 3 paisā

Saturday, the full moon day of Jyeṣṭha in the [Vikrama] era year 1955 (1898 CE). Auspiciousness.8

[Unknown seal]

Commentary

In the interim report of the census published by the Department of Statistics in 1954, the Aṭhāra Saya Kholā region comprises two administrative divisions: Paścima number 1 Dhading and Paścima number 2 Gorkha (N. A. VS 2011: 29, 36). This division was made during the Rāṇā period, but there is reason to assume that a large area stretching all the way to Dhading and Nuwakot was already known as Aṭhāra Saya Kholā much earlier than that.

A document from 1852 CE mentions that Nepal was divided into 69 administrative units during the time of Jaṅga Bahādura (Vaidya and Manandhar VS 2053: 184). Districts as such, however, were first introduced during the reign of Vīra Śamśera (1885-1901). Except for some minor changes, the structure of these districts remained the same throughout the remainder of the Rāṇā period. There were 20 districts in the hill region, while the Terai region was made up of 12 districts, making it 32 districts in total. The three districts of the Kathmandu Valley fell under the central administration (Vaidya and Manandhar VS 2053: 185-186).

The name Aṭhāra Saya Kholā was retained in the new administrative map of the Rāṇā regime, but the region was split into two distinct divisions: Paścima 1 Dhading comprised 27 villages with 1,545 households, while Paścima 2 Gorkha had 32 villages with 913 households.

As the above document mentions Paścima 1, the office that issued it must have been situated in present-day Dhading district. Geographically, the dividing line between the two divisions of the Aṭhāra Saya Kholā region was the Buḍhī Gaṇḍakī River: Nubri and other areas west of it fell under Paścima 2, and Tsum and other areas east of the Buḍhī Gaṇḍakī, under Paścima 1.

Notes

1. The princess is given the title sāhājyādī. This meant that she was either the daughter or sister of the incumbent king, in this case Pṛthvī Vīra Vikrama Śāha (1875-1911), who was her brother. This document, given the fact that she died in Nārāyaṇahiti Palace in 1892 (see http://www.royalark.net/Nepal/nepal8.htm), is evidence that arrears from the goḍadhuvā levy were still being collected six years after her death. [⇑]

2. The seal reading Naina Sī appears to be the seal of Subedāra Naina Sī Basnyāta of Company 2 of the Bhairavī Dal. The seal also contains a śrī on top. Interestingly, the name Naina Sī has the 'सी' flipped so that it fits inside the round border. [⇑]

3. The writing is not clear in the original. Orthographically, it is close to Salyāna, but the district of Salyāna of present-day Nepal would have been rather distant from the Aṭhāra Saya Kholā region. However, there is a village called Salyāna along the Buḍhī Gaṇḍakī River, just a two-day walk south of Tsum that could be referred to here. [⇑]

4. The local pronunciation of the place is Phurbe. [⇑]

5. Inserted from the space above. [⇑]

6. The word appears in the form chetra in the document. Probably this was a scribal error and was meant to be Chetrī instead. But it is also possible that the scribe wanted to express that Naina Sī Basnyāt was a witness to the document from the West Number 1 region. [⇑]

7. The meaning is unclear. [⇑]

8. The scribe writes the word śubham in a stylistic manner. [⇑]

Glossary

Word	Notes
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).
asāmī / āsāmī	[fr. A.] n. 1) details (cf. M.R. Pant 2002: 131). 2) an individual name or entry in the record (cf. Michael 2012: 129). 3) debtor.
avvala	[fr. P.] var. avala; n. 1) land of the best quality. 2) first.
Bakyautā Tahasila Aḍḍā	var. Vakyautā Tahasīla Aḍa, Vakyautā Aḍā; n. offices established to collect revenue on taxable lands. Prior to their establishment in 1860s, collection of such revenue was done traditionally by village headmen and other non-official functionaries (cf. Regmi RRS 11 (2): 18-19).
cāhāra	[fr. P.] n. 1) land of the fourth or lowest quality. 2) fourth.
ḍhākre	var. ḍhākryā; n. 1) a porter; one who carries goods on his back in a ḍhākara, a large hand-woven conical basket of bamboo widely popular in hill regions; 2) a former state employee (cf. M.R. Pant 2002: 132 ), "off-role, out of government employment" (Whelpton 1991: 282); 3) an unemployed person; 4) another word for raitī, i.e. tenants or settlers, who fall under the jurisdiction of and pay taxes to the Limbu subbā (cf. Parajuli et al. 2075 s.v. ḍhākre).
doyama	[fr. P.] n. 1) land of the second best quality. 2) second.
dvāre	var. dvāryā, duvāryā; n. 1) a local revenue collection official (e.g. M.R. Pant 2002: 132; M.C. Regmi 1970: 149) who can arrest offenders and try petty cases (Stiller 1981: 379). 2) a gatekeeper at the royal palace who collects certain levies (Edwards 1975: 106; M.C. Regmi 1978: 226); 3) a village headman in the Kathmandu Valley (M.C. Regmi 1970: 149).
ganḍā	var. ganḍī; n. a monetary or weight measurement unit consisting of four paisās or four tolās; equivalent to an ānā (Cf. RRS 5.1: 40), with 16 or 25 ganḍās in one rupee. See also sohraganḍī, paccīsaganḍī.
goḍadhuvā	var. goḍadhovā; n. 1) presents in cash and kind offered to bride and groom by the bride's side during their washing of the couple's feet. 2) tax levied to finance the wedding and dowry of the reigning king's eldest daughter (Adhikari 1984: 348; M.C. Regmi 1988: 267); imposed in 1804 when Gīrvāṇayuddha's elder sister, Raṇabahādura's daughter was married (M.C. Regmi 1995: 28); in 1898/1899 (VS 1955/1956) when Princess Prāṇa Lakṣmī was married (E_3372_0037, Tsum_0001).
kharadāra / kharidāra	[fr. P.] var. kharīdāra, ṣaridāra; n. secretary, official scribe, office superintendent (cf. Kumar 1967: 166).
maujā	[fr. A. mauja] var. mauje, maujye; n. 1) unit of land revenue administration in the Tarai (cf. Krauskopff and Deuel Meyer 2000: 184). 2) revenue subdivision constituted by a group of villages in some hill districts and the Kathmandu Valley (cf. Michael 2012: 132).
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.
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).
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.
paṭṭā	n. lease (Turner 1931: s.v.); a written deed of lease (Adhikari 1984: 354); title deed to land (Michael 2012: 133; cf. also M.C. Regmi 1978: 228; M.C. Regmi 1999: 235: “A land-allotment certificate in the Tarai region“).
sima	[fr. P.] var. sim; n. 1) land of the third quality. 2) third.
subedāra	n. commander of a military company (cf. M.C. Regmi 1999: 137) consisting of 100 soldiers (N.R. Pant et al. 1969: 383), often placed in charge of a district (M.R. Pant 2002: 136; M.C. Regmi 1978: 229). According to Stiller (1981: 382), he is [below the subbā] the second highest commissioned officer, and, according to Whelpton (1991: 286), he is immediately senior to the jamadāra.
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.
tahabiladāra	[fr. A.] var. tahavīldāra; n. cashier or treasurer of a government institution (cf. Adhikari 1984: 357; Karmacharya 2001: 326), they would "receive the money brought in and pay the fees and salaries of the officials of that office [i.e. the Kumārīcoka].“ (Edwards 1975: 108).
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).
thuma	[?] var. thuṃ; n. an administrative subdivision comprising a number of villages in the hills (M.R. Pant 2002: 136). According to M.C. Regmi 2002: 303 the chief of a thuma was a umarāu who "was required to supply fighting men, and perform other functions prescribed by the government from time to time." A subdivision of a tahasila (Kumar 1967: 168).

Bibliography

N. A. VS 2011. Janagaṇanāko antarima riporṭa. Kathmandu: Saṃkhyā Vibhāga (Dept. of Statistics).
Vaidya, Tulasī Rāma and Tri Ratna Mānandhara. VS 2053. Ādhunika Nepalko Praśāsanika Itihāsa (CE 1768-1951). Kathmandu: C.N.A.S..