Documenta Nepalica

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

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A letter from Jagat Śamśera to dvāres of Aṭhāra Saya Kholā not to bother village headmen for their past actions (VS 1912)

ID: Tsum_0001_0006

Edited and translated by Nadine Plachta and Rajendra Shakya
Created: 2017-05-10; Last modified: 2018-09-18
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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, . Published by the courtesy 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

The letter concerns an order from Jagat Śamśera to the dvāres of Aṭhāra Saya Kholā to no longer bother the headmen of five named districts of Aṭhāra Saya Kholā, as they have already been absolved after paying a fine for their crime of lending help to the Tibetan army during Nepal’s war against its northern neighbor.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1श्री५सर्कार∙
2१

[Seal of Jagat Śamśera]

1स्वस्तिश्रीमद्राजकुमारकुमारात्मजश्रीजनरलजगत्‌सम्सेर∙जङ्गकुव़ोर∙णाजीक
2स्यपत्रम्¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯
3आगे∙अठारसहेषोलामासालवसालद्वार्‍याभैजान्याद्वार्‍याहरुकेजेथोचित्‌उप्रांत
4निजअठारसहेषोलाकाअम्वलमध्ये∙पाचपार्वाकातपसिलवमोजिम्‌‌काघन
5सुंहरुले¯ ¯१¯कोर∙भोटकोलडाञिहुदा∙अठारसहेकाअम्वलमध्ये∙कुलुं
6भन्न्या∙लंगुरमा∙भोटकोषाम्पालिफौजवस्तानिजतपसिलवमोजिमकाघनसुं
7हरुले∙निजभोटकाषाम्पालिफौजलाई∙सातुसामल∙तिहुन्‌ताहुन्‌दियाकोर∙
8भोटकोभोट्यासिपाहिनिमाटेस्यां∙भोटवाटभागीआफ्नामुलुकमासरन्‌पि
9छापरिरैतिभैवस्याकालाई∙पछिभोटकाषाम्पालिफौजमासौपीदिन∙नजान्या
10वापत्‌∙निजअठारसहेषोलाका∙तपसिलवमोजिमकाघनसुंलाई∙मोरु३५०डं
11डगरिछाडीदियाकोछ∙येस्कुरामाफेरिरैतिलाईटंटानगर∙फेरिटंटाग
12र्‍यौर∙रैतिकराउनआयाभन्याअैनबमोजिम∙गुताकारसमेत्‌वुझाउनपर्ला
13सोवुझिकामगर¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯
14तपसिल

[table]

छिलुंकोघनसुंव़ांजि	१	निलुन्‌कोघनसुंनांगाम्	१
फुल्‌पेकोघनसुंफिन्जोनुर्वु	१	नाककोघनसुंवोर्प्प	१
पारन्‌‌कोघनसुंछांडी	१		१

18इतिसम्वत्१९१२सालमितिमाघवदि१३रोज२शुभ्म==========

Translation

[1r]

Śrī 5 Sarkāra - 1

Hail! A letter from General Jagat Śamśera Jaṅga Kũvara Rāṇā, the venerable prince born of a prince.

Āge: to the dvāres who are posted as dvāre in Aṭhāra Saya Kholā on yearly basis to [perform their duties].

Uprānta: among the ambalas1 of Aṭhāra Saya Kholā, the ghanasuṃs2 of Pācapārvā 3 , during the war between [Śrī 5 Sarkāra]4 and Tibet, had provided sātu sāmala5 and tihun tāhun6 to the Khāmpālī7 army of Tibet while they had camped in the ridge (laṃgura) called Kuluṃ8 , and declined to go and hand over the Tibetan army man [named] Nimāṭesyaṃ9 who had been taking asylum in one’s own country [Nepal] as its citizen after escaping from Tibet. The ghanasuṃs of Aṭhāra Saya Kholā mentioned below have been absolved [from all accusations for these actions] after being fined mohara rupaiyā 350 as punishment. Do not bother the subjects regarding this issue again. If [you] bother them and the subjects come to complain [about this], [you] may, in accordance with the Ain, even have to pay the fine (gutākāra). [Hence] act accordingly.

Tapasila

[table]

Ghanasuṃ Vāṃji of Chiluṃ 10	1	Ghanasuṃ Nāṃgām 11 of Nilun 12	1
Ghanasuṃ Phinjo Nurbu 13 of Phulpe 14	1	Ghanasuṃ Vorppa 15 of Nāka 16	1
Ghanasuṃ Chāṃḍī 17 of Pāran 18	1		1

Monday, the 13th of dark fortnight of Māgha in the [Vikrama] era year 1912 (1856 CE). Auspiciousness.

Commentary

The names of the five district headmen locally known as ganchen also appear in some other documents with some variations in orthography. In documents Tsum_0001_0006 and Tsum_0001_0008, the names of the ganchens of five districts have been given, all of whom appear to be the same person except for the ganchen of Ṅāka Gāũ. The district seems to have witnessed changes in the leadership in the span of some six months. The earliest record that mentions the name of ganchen of Ṅāka dates back to 1856 CE, which mentions Vorppa as the ganchen. Some five months later, Dorjye is seen as ganchen of Ṅāka, while just a few weeks later, another person, Norbu, appears as the ganchen in another document.

The ganchen of Pāro Gāũ appears in seven documents with as many variations in orthography: Chyāṃ Ḍuḍup (Tsum_0001_0009), Chvāṅ Ḍaṃḍu (Tsum_0001_0042), Chāṃḍī (Tsum_0001_0006), Chyāṃ Ḍuṃḍu (Tsum_0001_0008), Chen Ḍaṃḍupa (Tsum_0001_0016), Chāṅa Ḍunḍupa (Tsum_0001_0032) and Chāṅ Ḍuṃḍu Bhoṭyā (Tsum_0001_0052). Likewise, the name of ganchen of Cule/Chiluṃ appears as Vāṃji (Tsum_0001_0006), Vāṅju (Tsum_0001_0008) and Vāṅjyū (Tsum_0001_0032).

The name of the ganchen of Nile/Niluṃ appears as Nāṃgām (Tsum_0001_0006), Nāṅmāṅ (Tsum_0001_0008) and Nāmgām (Tsum_0001_0032). The ganchen of Phurbe/Phulpe also appears in three documents: Phinjo Nurbu (Tsum_0001_0006), Phunjo Nurbu (Tsum_0001_0008) and Ḍupa Dorje Phunjo (Tsum_0001_0032).

Notes

1. The ambala system for collecting revenue of the land was replaced by the first revenue regulation known as Gorkha māla ko savāla, by Candra Śamśera in 1959 VS. The introduction of new revenue regulation abolished the ambala system and new revenue offices were opened in the districts to improve the collection of land revenue (Agrawal 1976: 75). [⇑]

2. The term ghanasuṃ is corruption of the local term ganchen, which means the headman of one of the five districts locally known as tsho nga. Hence, there are five ganchens, one each from five tsho ngas, in the Aṭhāra Saya Kholā region. The post of ganchen passes on to the head of each household of the district. If the head of the family is a widow, she is also entitled to hold the post. In practice, however, almost all the head of the families opt not to hold the position and instead offer some gifts to experienced person or the earlier ganchen and request him to take up the position in their place. Hence, even though the post of ganchen passes on from one household to another, in practice, it is usually the same person holding the position all his life. [⇑]

3. The term Pācapārvā means the five districts, or 'tsho nga' as the locals call it, of upper Tsum. These five districts are Chokhāṅga/Pāro, Ṅgāka, Phurbe, Cule and Nile. [⇑]

4. Inserted from the space above. [⇑]

5. A local manner of speaking with the use of reduplication to mean food items needed for daily cooking. [⇑]

6. A local manner of speaking with the use of reduplication meaning a food item made of a mixture of rice and lentils, vegetables etc. with a lot of fluids. [⇑]

7. The natives of the Khāma region are called Khāmpālī. The Khāma is a historical region of Tibet covering a land area largely divided between present-day Tibet Autonomous Region and Sichuan province, with smaller portions located within Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan provinces of China. [⇑]

8. Locally, Kuluṃ is known as Kaluṅga [⇑]

9. The real name of the person could be Nimā Tāśī. [⇑]

10. Chiluṃ is most probably the place called Chule in local terms. [⇑]

11. The correct name is Nāmgyāla [⇑]

12. The local term for Nilun is Nile. [⇑]

13. The correct name is Phuñjo Norbu [⇑]

14. The local term for Phulpe is Phurbe. [⇑]

15. Possibly, the correct name is Aphe. [⇑]

16. The local term for Nāka is Ṅgāka [⇑]

17. The correct name is Chāmdu. [⇑]

18. The local term of Pāran is Pāro or Pāro Gāũ. [⇑]

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.
ambala	var. aṃbala, amavala, amala, amāla, ammala; n. 1) territory, administrative unit, district. 2) office, position, term of office, honour, respect (Turner 1931: s.v. amal); "territory in Gorkhali official discourse; land occupied by force, land from which the state has acquired right to collect revenue; generally conveys the same meaning as the term amal" (Michael 2012: 129). 3) a Limbu subbā's court or council in Pallo Kirāta (Caplan 2000: 225).
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).
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.
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).
tapasila	[fr. A.] var. tapasīl, tapasīlā, tapsīl; n. particulars, details; can be a self-sustained document, but is more often appended as a list after the narratio of documents.
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.

Bibliography

Agrawal, Hem Narayan. 1976. The Administrative System of Nepal: From Tradition to Modernity. New Delhi : Vikas.