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A copy of a lālamohara from King Rājendra appointing Gokula Pādhyā and Curai Pādhyā to manage Dasaĩ rituals at Argha (VS 1902)

ID: K_0031_0019C


Edited and translated by Astrid Zotter in collaboration with Pabitra Bajracharya
Created: 2019-03-14; Last modified: 2019-08-08
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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, 2019. 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 CCby-SA.

Abstract

The lālamohara of which this is a copy entrusts Gokula Pādhyā and Curai Pādhyā with the task of performing the traditional rituals during the Dasaĩ festival for the goddess Kālikā at Argha Rajasthal without any reductions, and puts in place new regulations for the custom (thiti).



Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1पानं­१२­

1७­नं­

[Unknown Seal 1]

1मार्फट­काजी­∙जंग­वाहादुर­∙कुव़र­वमोजीम­∙सगौडर­

1रुजु­∙
2हेर्ने­स्ही­नौ­हरि­
3भंने­∙स्ही­नौ­पुर्ण­

[Unknown Seal 1]

[Unknown Seal 1]

[Unknown Seal 1]

[Unknown Seal 1]

1१९०२­सालको­∙
2वैशाक­∙वडी­∙८­रोज­∙४­
3दसै­पुजा­गुठी­
4प्रस्तिसौ­
5आगे­गोकुल­पाध्या­चुरै­पाध्या∙के­∙अर्घा­रजस्थलका­∙दसैमा­दरीय़ाका­मामुली­जगाका­∙पैडाव़ारले­∙
6श्री­कालीकाको­∙नीत्य­नैमीत्यक­पुजा­गरी­∙दुवै­दसै­गर्नु­∙अघीदेष­आजसम्म­∙चली­आय़ाका­∙पाठ­
7पुजा­कटी­नघटाऊनु­∙दसैका­काम्मा­रह्याका­∙काम्डारको­∙आजसंम्म­∙षाईपाई­∙आय़ाको­∙मामु∙
8ली­∙नगदै­दस्तुर­∙दिनु­∙तिमीहरुले­षान्या­∙दस्तुर­∙तिमीहरुले­षानु­∙रजस्थलमा­∙वस्न्या­रये∙
9तले­∙अनेत्रको­∙झारा­नजानु­∙देवालये­भत्क्या­विग्य्राको­∙वनाऊनु­∙नेवारहरुले­∙साज­वेहान­पुजा∙
10लाई­∙वतिधागो­∙पुर्‍याई­भजन­गर्नु­∙तीमीहरुका­घरमा­अघीदेषि­चलि­आयाका­गाउवाट­लीनु­
11गाउघरले­पनी­मोल­ली­दीनु­पनी­चौधरीका­घर­गनी­∙लाग्याको­रहेछ­∙अव­ऊप्रान्त­पनि­∙चौधरी∙
12ले­∙घर­गनी­नलीनु­∙दसैलाई­च्याहीन्या­रागा­वोका­∙अघी­देषि­∙चली­∙आय़ाका­∙गाऊवाट­ली­∙ऊ­गा
13ऊघरले­पनी­∙मोल­ली­दीनु­∙काज­नअडकाऊनु­∙भंन्या­∙थीति­वाधी­∙अघीको­मोहर­हानी­∙तीमी­२­लाई­∙
14अषत्यारी­गरी­∙वक्स्यौ­∙आफ्ना­षातीर­जामा­संग­∙मामुली­जगाका­∙पैडाव़ारले­∙श्री­कालीका∙
15को­∙नीत्य­नैमीत्यक­∙पुजा­चलाई­∙दसै­गरी­∙हाम्रो­जये़­मनाऊन्या­गर­ईति­सम्वत­∙१९०२­साल­∙
16मिति­∙वैशाक­वडी­∙८­रोज­∙४­शु­¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯

[Unknown Seal 2]

Translation

[1r]

Folio (pānaṃ for pānā) 121

No. 72

[Unknown Seal 1]3

According to the ...4 channelled through (mārphat) KājīJaṅga Bāhādura Kuvara

Physically present (ruju) [when the copy was prepared]: the one who watched: signature, name Hari; the one who said: signature, name Purṇa5

Wednesday, the 8th of the dark fortnight of the month of Vaiśākha of the [Vikrama era] year 1902 (1845 CE)6

[Concerning] a guṭhī for [performing] worship (pūjā) during Dasaĩ

There is [the royal] praśasti [in this place in the original] (praśastisau)

Āge: To Gokula Pādhyā and Curai Pādhyā

"The two Dasaĩs are to be celebrated by performing the regular (nitya) and occasional (naimītyaka) worship rituals (pūjā) for Śrī Kālikā from the produce of the customary lands that have been allocated [for such worship] during Dasaĩ in Arghā Rajasthala. No reduction in the recitations (pāṭha) and worship that have traditionally occurred from earlier times until today is to be made. Give the agents (kāmadāra) who are present during the Dasaĩ rituals the usual material provisions (māmulī), cash sums (nagadai) and customary fees (dastura) that they have traditionally received and enjoyed until today. Enjoy the dasturas you have [always] enjoyed. The ryots living in Rajasthala are not to go elsewhere for forced labor (jhārā). Repair what is broken [or] has collapsed in the shrine (devālaya). The Newars are to provide wicks of lamps for pūjā in the evening and in the morning, and to perform bhajana. It appears7 that from earlier on [they] have been employed to sing in your houses, and in the house of the headman of the Newars (caudhari). From now on, however, the caudhari is not to take them to sing in [his] house. When taking he-buffaloes and he-goats needed [as sacrificial animals] for Dasaĩ from the villages as traditionally done in earlier times these villagers are also to take the [traditional] price [for the animals].8 The tasks are not to be obstructed." — We [herewith] set the custom (thiti) [going forward] and, having annulled the previous mohara, confer authority on you two. Being mindful of your duty, perform the Dasaĩ [rituals], conducting the regular and occasional worship rituals for Śrī Kālikā from the produce of the customary lands, and keep on celebrating our triumphs.

Wednesday, the 8th of the dark fortnight of the month of Vaiśākha of the [Vikrama] era year 1902 (1845 CE). Auspiciousness.

[Unknown Seal 2]9


Commentary

The present document was microfilmed by the NGMPP for a second time as K 354/22. The present microfilm copy is listed as no. 43 in P. Ramirez’s "List of Ancient Documents (prior to 1916 AD and concerning Gulmi-Argha-Khanci or found in the region)" (Ramirez 2000: 297). Another copy of the same document was found in the Department of Archeology and is now kept in the National Archives, Kathmandu (Rājavaṃśī 1969: 29). As seen from its transcription by Rājavaṃśī (ibid.: 30–32), it covered the full royal praśasti, and had three persons signing as mārphatas, in addition to Jaṅga Bahādura also Māthavara Siṃha Thāpā and Umākānta Upādhyā10 .

The worship of the Argha Kālikā during Dasaĩ seems to have been funded through two different channels. On the one hand, there are documents that allocate lands to Brahmins appointed to the office of priest (purohītyāñī), as e.g. a lālamohara issued in VS 1888 and extant in two different copies (K_0016_0005C and K_0078_0022A, retaken as K_0376_0040). Through it 80 khetamuris are distributed among seven persons for officiating 1–4) as purohitas, 5) as the pūjārī, 6) as the person who carries the belapātī [in procession]11 and 7) one whose duty is prescribed as naurathā upāsanyā12 . On the other hand, there are documents like the present one that concern the guṭhī set up for the performance of the rituals, covering the costs for the material provisions and the remuneration of those concerned with the rituals who were not the Brahmin priests.

For the guṭhī (not called so in the present document, but in all previous ones) it is remarkable that over time persons from very different groups were appointed as overseers, which suggests that this post was highly sought after. The earliest document known so far is dated VS 1876 (1819 CE) and appoints Vatavā Sīṃ Rāyā (K_0015_0023E). One year later, in VS 1877, Hutadhvaja Sāhi follows a Devā Rāṇā (K_0020_0031B). The last names Rāyā/Rāṇā and Sāhi point to persons of royal descent; probably they were descendants of the former king of Argha. Oral history traces the foundation of this kingdom back to one Jillā Rāī (Ramirez 1996: 210–11). One of the last of the royal line to rule Argha before the Gorkhali conquest in 1786 must have been King Vīra Kumāra.13 Descendants of the former royals still assume their royal roles in the Dasaĩ rituals (Ramirez 1993; 1996).

In VS 1890 Bhimasena Mājhī and Punai Jaisī were appointed to follow Hutadhvaja Sāhī (K_0003_0036C), as a complaint had been lodged with Bhīmasena Thāpā about the non-payment for sacrificial animals and insufficient services. Therefore Hutadhvaja Sāhī's mohara was annulled and a new regulation (bandeja) instituted. Two years later, in VS 1892, Bhīmasena Mājhi was appointed to carry on alone, as Punai Jaisī had started quarrelling and the rituals were effectively obstructed (K_0017_0001B). While the earlier lālamoharas do mention the previous overseers, the present document, which shifts the responsibilities to Brahmins of Upādhyāya status, does not. It does not reveal details about the land involved either. The other documents refer to guṭhī land measuring 2 1/4 khetas, from the produce of which the Baḍādasaĩ rituals are to be carried out, the Caitedasaĩ being carried out with material provided by the amālī.

The conflict over the guṭhī's management and priests continued, as is testified to in many documents issued after the present one. In VS 1936 a long rukkā was issued by Prime Minister Raṇa Uddīpa Siṃha Rāṇā, mentioning the previous overseers and assigning the management of the guṭhī to Devīdāsa Bhūsāla, a descendant of the gurus of the former kings of Argha (extant in three different copies as K_0027_0004, K_0078_0022B and K_0376_0041). In his fieldwork at Argha Rajasthal in the 1980s and 1990s and his investigations of the local administrative documents, P. Ramirez describes a situation in which worship rights and duties continue to be fought over, as aptly captured in the title of one of his contributions: "Battles over Influence in the Empire of the Goddess" (Ramirez 1996).

Notes

1. This number probably refers to a page in a previous assemblage of documents or copies of documents; it may even be an indication that this is actually a copy of a copy. [⇑]

2. This number refers to the position of the document in a collection of copied texts of lālamoharas and sanadas archived as Book 1. The bound material covers the main body and some of the final formalities of documents issued by the king and the prime minister from the period VS 1891–1971. The documents numbered 1 to 46 were microfilmed by the NGMPP sequentially from K 31/15 (introductory page and index) up to and, as a retake, from K 354/14 up to K 354/61. According to the first page of the ledger, they were kept by the Kausī Tosākhānā. [⇑]

3. This seal could be either the personal seal of the scribe involved in copying or the seal of the issuing office. It has the form of an eight-petalled flower that surrounds an hexagram , with single akṣaras inside each of the six vertices and a legend in the middle consisting of four akṣaras in two lines. The same seal is used altogether five times throughout the copy, once for marking the beginning of a following marginal note and then to mark the beginnings and the ends of the crossed-out passages in lines 10 and 11 of the main text. [⇑]

4. The word after bamojīma consisting of four akṣaras is unclear both with regard to its proper transcription and translation. [⇑]

5. The two functions consisting of herne "watching" (i.e. probably looking over what was written being read out loud) and bhanne, "saying/telling" (i.e. probably reading it back out loud) are also found attested in other batches of documents (cf. K_0013_0020B to K_0013_0033E). [⇑]

6. From the date, the issuer of the original lālamohara would have been King Rājendra. [⇑]

7. Rājavaṃśī's transcription of another copy of the same document (see Commentary below) has the negative rahenacha in place of the rahecha in the present copy. The negative is, however, not very plausible within the context. [⇑]

8. The payment of proper prices for the sacrificial animals was an issue, as is evident from one of the predecessor lālamoharas dated VS 1890 (1833 CE) and extant as copy (K_0003_0036C). In it, a complaint about the lack of payment for sacrificial animals that local notables filed with General Bhīmasena Thāpā is covered in the narratio, and the sanctio rules that proper prices ought to be paid. [⇑]

9. This seal could be the personal seal of the scribe involved in copying. Oval in shape and bearing a legend in the middle, it marks the end of the copy and directly follows the final śu(bham). [⇑]

10. Umākānta Upādhyā possibly signed in his function as chief treasurer (khajāncī). M.C. Regmi paraphrases a document of appointment to that post found in the Regmi Research Collection dated to the 4th of the bright fortnight of the month of Pauṣa in VS 1902, that is, eight months after the present document was issued (Regmi 1984: 64). This may, however, actually have been a reappointment, as Regmi also says that from the 9th of the dark fortnight of Pauṣa of VS 1901 (2 January 1845) onwards Umākānta was already enjoying the financial privileges of his predecessor, Tārānātha Arjyāla [⇑]

11. Belapātī could be another term for phūlapātī, the assemblage of traditionally nine different plants that is introduced into the dasaĩghara on the seventh day of Dasaĩ in the festival practices of the Gorkhalis and other groups. The Bengal quince (bela) is one of its foremost items (cf. Unbescheid 1996: 116). According to P. Ramirez (1996: 223 n. 24), however, a phūlapātī procession did not form part of the rituals at Argha as performed in the late 1980s, though the phūlapāti bundle itself seems to have been present at the dismissal ritual (ibid.: 229). Was the procession discontinued at some point in history or does the phrase belapātī bokne refer to something else? The former option seems more likely. The discontinuation may be connected with another documented quarrel about ritual responsibilities. The VS 1888 document appoints a Punhai Jaisī to be the carrier of the belapātī. A person of a similar name, Punai Jaisī, is appointed two years later to take over the management of the guṭhī and was relieved of his post in VS 1892 due to negligence (see below). Was the belapātī procession affected as a result? [⇑]

12. This must refer to the special observance Ramirez (1996: 223) reports as taking place during the first six days of the Dasaĩ period. A person from the Bhusāl clan of Brahmin priests is chosen as "naurāthe" or "guptabās" and stays away from the sun’s rays (in the temple of the lineage deity over Caitedasaĩ and in the "Naurāth mãdīr" during Baḍādasaĩ), keeps a fast and undertakes special worship of the lineage deity of the clan, Kulyān Bhagavatī. [⇑]

13. A bintīpatra submitted by one Rāmacandra Pādhyā regarding his claim to serve as priest at Argha refers to his predecessors having served Rājā Vira Kumāra Sāhī. A land sale deed drawn up by King Vīra Kumāra of Argha and copied (?) in VS 1840 (1783 CE) was published by Rājavaṃśī (1969: 29-30). [⇑]