Documenta Nepalica

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

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A document from Dalāna Tahasila Aḍḍā acknowledging receipt for an emolument from Pāro Gāũ (VS 1944)

ID: Tsum_0001_0012

Edited and translated by Nadine Plachta and Rajendra Shakya
Created: 2017-07-17; Last modified: 2020-01-11
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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

This document deals with the obtainment of payment in cash and kind for the emolument from Pāro Gāũ in Aṭhāra Saya Kholā that was granted to the Commanding General of the Western Front, Raṇa Śamśera, who, by the time this payment was made, had apparently passed away.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1श्री\

1स्वर्गेवासीश्रीकम्यांदरईनचिफजन
2रलरणसम्सेरजङ्गराणावहादुर
3१

1श्रीपश्चीम्‌तर्फकोकम्यांडीङ्‌जनरल
2२

[Unknown seal]

1स्वस्तिश्रीदलान्‌तहसी∙लअडाकस्यपत्रम्--- ---- --- --- ---- --- --- ---- ---
2आगेदाषीलाआम्दानी∙¯ ¯१¯साहेवका¯ ¯२¯खान्गीमादरीय़ाको∙षुवाअठारसैषो
3लामध्येदोचेतर्फस्यार∙पट्टीपाचय़ार्वाको∙पारोगाउकोमुषीय़ा∙रीगमागवोकाछो
4राकर्माजेठापासाल्हार्क्यालनोर्वुको४४सालकाठेकमध्ये∙आय़ाकोहस्तेदाव़ादुंदुलेस्ही
5छापगरीवुझाय़ाको∙ज्मामोहरुचारसैचाररुपैञातेह्रआना∙नौदाम४०४ ||| /|| १दीठ्ठा
6नरवाहादुरजीम्मा∙तहविलदाषीलभय़ोतस्को∙रसीदगरीदीञ्यूं-------
7तप्सील∙

[table]

	नगदिमोहरु	--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---	३९५
	नुन्\| ८केद्र\| ∙ \| ६\|५ लेमोरु	--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---	९ \|\|\|/\|\|१

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
11ईतीसम्वत्‌१९४४सालमितीफागुनवदि३०रोज∙१शुभ्म्[Unknown seal]

Translation

[1r]

Śrī

The Late Venerable Commander-in-Chief, General Raṇa Śamśera Jaṅga Bahādura Rāṇā – 1

Venerable commanding general of the western front – 2

Hail! A letter from the venerable Dalāna Tahasila Aḍḍā

Āge: The entry of income: A total of four hundred and four mohararupaiyā̃s, thirteen ānās, and nine dāmas, 404|||/||1, was received as theka of the year [VS 19]44 for an emolument (khuvā) [and] registered in the name of the - 1 - [the Late Commander-in-Chief, Raṇa Śamśera]1 [in capacity of] - 2 - [commanding general of the western front]2 , from Karmā Jeṭhā Pāsā Lharkyāl Norbu, son of Rīga Māgavo – mukhiyā of Pāro Gāũ in Pācapārvā within Aṭhāra Saya Kholā in the direction of Doce. [The emolument] was submitted with his signature by Dāvā Daṃdu to the authority of Ḍiṭṭhā Nara Bahādura, [who] deposited the amount [in the respective treasury]. A receipt was issued for the same.

Tapasila

[table]

	Mohara rupaiyā [received] in cash	– 3953
	[Cash received] for \| 8 of salt at the rate of \| ∙ \| 6\|54	– 9 rupees, 3 sukās, 1 ānā, 2 paisās and 1 dāma

Sunday, the 30th of the dark fortnight of Phālguna in the [Vikrama] era year 1944 (1888 CE). Auspiciousness.

Commentary

This document records the obtainment of cash and kind paid as ṭheka for the emolument from Pāro Gāũ of Pācapārvā in the Aṭhāra Saya Kholā region. The emolument was granted to the Commanding General of the Western Front, Raṇa Śamśera. By the time this payment was made, he had already been promoted to the post of the commander-in-chief. Raṇa Śamśera’s tenure as the commander-in-chief seems to have short-lived due to his death that probably occurred shortly before this document was issued. According to the Rāṇā Roll of Succession, the commanding general of the western front succeeded the post of the commander-in-chief.

Notes

1. Inserted from the space above. [⇑]

2. Inserted from the space above. [⇑]

3. A drop of ink renders the number illegible. It appears to be 394, but the number requires to be 395 in order to make the calculation a correct one. [⇑]

4. The calculation of the weight and rate of the salt mentioned is difficult to ascertain. [⇑]

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.
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).
dāma	var. dām; n. the smallest monetary unit, one-fourth of one paisā (in case of measurements of land etc.) and one-256th of one mohararupaiyā̃.
ḍiṭṭhā	var. ḍīṭṭhā, ḍiṭhā; a civil servant ranking above a mukhiyā and lower than a subbā (cf. Stiller 1981: 379). According to Edwards 1975: 107, ḍiṭṭhās originally had been the judges who presided over the courts in Kathmandu but later could serve in a number of other offices (such as the kausī, the hāttīsāra or the sadara daphtarakhānā; see also Kumar 1967: 165; M.C. Regmi 1978: 226). The Mulukī Ain distinguishes three categories of the ḍiṭṭhās; the jaṅgī kote ḍiṭṭhā (probably, combatant personnel), the lājimā ḍiṭṭhā and the ḍiṭṭhā in charge of Elephant or horse stable or cowshed (MA-54.31.11).
khuvā	var. ṣuvā; n. 1) non-irrigated land (pākho) given as emolument for government employees (jāgira) (cf. Adhikari 1984: 352; Michael 2012: 132) . 2) revenue from homestead taxes of different categories (mostly in cash) in the hill region which formed a part of the jāgira assignment (M.C. Regmi 2002: 301 ; cf. M.C. Regmi 1978: 468, 860 ; M.C. Regmi 1999: 137). 3) small division of country, district, province (Turner s.v. khuvā)
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.
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.
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.
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.
ṭheka	var. thega, ṭhek; n. 1) regular payment (cf. NBŚ: "sālindā bujhāune garieko tiro vā dastura"); 2) regular payment in either goods or cash in leasing (cf. NBŚ: "…3. ṭhekkāmā bujhāunuparne rakama vā mālasāmāna"); 3) "generic term used to denote various categories of contractual systems for the collection of taxes" (Michael 2012: 135; cf. M.C. Regmi 1988: 270).