Documenta Nepalica

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A document from General Jagat Śamśera acknowledging having received payment, both in cash and kind, from Pāro Gāũ (VS 1919)

ID: Tsum_0001_0016


Edited and translated by Nadine Plachta and Rajendra Shakya
Created: 2017-05-08; Last modified: 2020-07-10
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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 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 CCby-SA.

Abstract

This receipt was written by Jagat Śamśera and acknowledges the entry of khānagī revenue into his account.



Diplomatic edition

[1r]

[...]

[Seal of Jagat Śamśera]

1स्वस्ति∙श्रीमद्राज∙कुमार∙कुमारात्मज­दछिणतर्फका­कम्यां
2डींङ­∙जनरल­श्री­जगत्सम्सेर­जङ्ग­कुव़र­राणाकस्य­पत्रम्­--- ---­
3आगे­दाषीला­आम्दानी­हाम्रा­जनरली­षान्गीमा­दरियाको­षु
4व़ा­अट्ठार­सै­षोला­मध्ये­∙स्यारपट्टी­पारो­गाउ­१­को­१९५०­सा
5लका­लोकाभार­∙का­आम्दानी­मध्ये­∙मुहुडामा­आयाको­मा
6र्फत­मुषीया­∙छेन्‌­डंडुप­हस्ते­नीज­∙तपसिल­वमोजीमका­नग
7द­जीन्सी­हाम्रा­हजुर­दाषील­भयो­तस्को­रसिद­गरिवक्स्यौ­
8वही­वुझ्‌‌दा­मीनाहा­होला­∙¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯
9तपसिल­

[table]

नगद­भीत्र­ढुकुटी­दाषील­हस्ते­सुवेदार­∙सीग­वीर­∙
 मोह­रुपैया­येक­सै­साढे­पंचानवै­∙¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯		१९५||∙
नीज­गाउ­१­को­¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯१८४­भोटको­सीर्ती­¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯---११||­
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

[table]

जीन्सी ­∙जिम्मा­र­हस्ते­∙डीट्ठा­दयानाथ­पाध्या­¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯
धन्सार­∙दाषील­∙नुन्‌­पाथी­आठ­¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯|८
मो­रुपैया­२­को­पाषी­थान्‌­¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯१
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
18इति­सम्वत्‌­१९१९­साल­मीती­फागुन­सुदी­६­रोज­३­शुभ्म्­¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯

[Seal of Śrī Trivikrama]

[Unknown seal]

Translation

[1r]

Śrī

[Seal of Jagat Śamśera]

Hail! A letter from the Commanding General of the Southern Front Jagat Śamśera Jaṅga Kũvara Rāṇā, a prince born of a prince

Āge: Of the lokābhāra revenue for the year [VS] 1950 received at the frontier (muhuḍā) 1 , the revenue in cash and kind from our landed emolument (khuvā)—registered as a khānagī of my generalship: 1 village, Pāro (cf. the tapasila below)2 in Syāra3 within the Aṭhāra Saya Kholā region—has been given to us by MukhīyāChen Ḍaṃḍupa4 . A rebate (mināhā) wil be given once the ledgers are received.5

Tapasila

[table]

Cash entered into the treasury by SubedāraSīga Vīra, mohararupaiyā̃s one hundred ninety-five and a half195 mohararupaiyā̃s 2 sukās
Of the said 1 village --- 184 mohararupaiyā̃sSīrtī of Bhoṭa6 --- 11 mohararupaiyā̃s two sukās
Jīnsī under ḌiṭṭhāDayā Nātha Pādhyā's responsibility [to be collected] and received from him---
Entry in the ration godown (dhansāra) - eight pāthīs of salt --- | 8
Entry of a thick woollen rug (pākhī) worth 2 mohararupaiyā̃s---1 piece

Tuesday, the 6th of the bright fortnight of Phālguna in the [Vikrama] era year 1919 [1863 CE]. Auspiciousness.

[Seal of Śrī Trivikrama]

[Unknown seal]


Commentary

The Commanding General of the Southern Front was the fifth brother of Jaṅga Bahādura in the Rāṇā Roll of Succession to the coveted post of prime minister. His title was abbreviated as "Da.Ka.Ja." (Nep. dakṣiṇa tarphakā kamyaṃḍiṅga janarala). There were three other commanding generalships. The eastern and northern posts were exclusively reserved for the fourth and sixth brothers respectively. The western region was looked after by the commanding general of the western front, who, being the de facto head of the army, was also known as Jaṅgī Lāṭha. He served in addition as the head of the Jaṅgī Aḍḍā. As the western force constituted the bulk of the Nepalese Army, he was senior to the other commanding generals (Agrawal 1976: 33).

During the Rāṇā regime, three significant changes were made to the general structure of the judiciary, of which the first (1846-1901 CE), during the time this document was written, made provisions for a total of four gaũḍās: While Pālpā, Dhanakuṭā and Ḍoṭī were three separate gaũḍās, such districts as Bhaktapur, Patan, Gorkha, Dolakha, Jaleśvara, Rauṭahaṭa, Bārā and Chitwan were subsumed under a fourth one, the Ilāmagaũḍā (Vaidya and Manandhar, 2053: 216). It is not clear which of these four gaũḍās was responsible for handling cases in the Aṭhāra Saya Kholā region. Two other documents (Tsum_0001_0008, Tsum_0001_0032), however, relate that a couple of security officials from the Patan Tahabila were sent to Aṭhāra Saya Kholā in order to collect a penalty exacted upon the five ghansum of Pācapārvā, suggesting that Aṭhāra Saya Kholā was under the jurisdiction of the district of Patan.

Notes

1. There were altogether four muhuḍās, more commonly known as gaũḍās in the Rāṇā administration. Gaũḍā literally means "a narrow pass", but it is also used to refer to a hill station, a castle or a fort. In the judiciary system, however, gaũḍās were offices established in districts to serve as appellate courts, while also hearing and decideding original cases (Adhikari, 1979: 16). They were part of the judiciary under the control of Iṭācapalī. The four gaũḍās were Dhanakuṭā gaũḍā, Ilāmagaũḍā, Ḍoṭī gaũḍā and Pālpā gaũḍā (Vaidya and Manandhar, 2053: 219). The document does not specify the name of the muhuḍā here. [⇑]

2. Even though the document singles out the name Paro, the administrative unit referred to here comprised three villages, namely Chokhang, Paro and Dzong. These three villages collectively formed one of the five sectors of Upper Tsum. [⇑]

3. Syāra (Tib. shar) means "east" in Tibetan. It was the name for the area east of the Buḍhī Gaṇḍakī River that was given to Lower and Upper Tsum by the Nepalese government authorities from the time it was incorporated into the Nepali state. Accordingly, the main water source running through the valley was named Shar Kholā. In contrast, Tibetan sources list the name Nubri (Tib. nub ri, lit. the western mountains) to describe the region at the upper reaches of the Buḍhī Gaṇḍakī to the west of Tsum. [⇑]

4. The correct name is Dhondup. Chen could be a short form of rgan chen, the local word for a headman. [⇑]

5. The Kumārī Coka, the accounts and audit office, used to receive all ledgers from the district and central offices. When the office went through the ledgers, called bahīs, there was a tradition of granting rebates in the case of minor errors in calculation. The act of providing a rebate was known as mināhā mojarā (cf. NBŚ: s.v. mināhā mojarā). [⇑]

6. Tsum and other Himalayan regions were frequently referred to as Bhoṭa in Nepalese historical accounts. It is possible that Sīrtī is Sirdibāsa, a village situated to the south of Tsum along the Buḍhī Gaṇḍakī River. Residents of the region usually refer to Sirdibāsa as Sirdi. Another possibility could be that Sīrtī presents a misspelling of the noun sirto, i.e. ‘tribute’ from Bhoṭa. [⇑]