Edited and
translated by Manik Bajracharya
in collaboration with
Raju Rimal
Created: 2018-08-09;
Last modified: 2020-06-25
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[1r]
श्री\1साछी[1r]
Śrī
Witnesses:
Vaṃsīlāl Josī, resident of
Jhatāpola in Patan - 1
Kāsīnātha Lāmichāne, resident of
Khalvīṭāra1 in the district (ambala) of Patan -
1
Scribe Harka Kumāra Kāyestha, resident of
Dūnāco Ṭola in Bhaktapur - 1
Hail! Likhitama: Friday, the 3rd of the dark fortnight of Vaiśākha in the [Vikrama] era year 1959 (1902 CE). On this day, [I] the debtor named Kṛṣṇa Vīra Rānā, a soldier (sipāhī)2 in the 8th squad (paṭṭī)3 of the Bhairavanātha Palṭana, and a resident of Vīmīre Gāu within [the confines of] the district of Navalapura, have taken a loan of 42 mohararupaiyās, in words forty-two, of current legal currency (gatalīhala) [from] the creditor named Annapurṇā Brāhmaṇī, a resident of Vailāche Ṭola within [the confines of] the district of Patan. I have taken this loan for [covering the cost of] my second brother's marriage. For this money, 1 [or the other] of us 4 brothers will remain present and work [for you]. The creditor shall not ask for interest on the [principal] sum. The debtor shall not ask back the value of daily work (nimeka). We have willingly drawn up this loan agreement (tamasuka), declaring that 1 [or the other] of us 4 brothers will work for the creditor until the [principal] amount is repaid. [The names of] the people who have signed standing witness to this deed are written in the margin. The date is valid. Auspiciousness.
This document is a loan agreement between the debtor Kṛṣṇa Vīra Rānā and the creditor Annapurṇā Brāhmaṇī. The debtor is a resident of Bimire which currently lies in Nawalpur municipality of Sindhupalchok district. The creditor, as the name suggests, is a Brahmin woman. Her place of residence, spelled Vailāche Ṭola, is probably Bhelāchẽ, a locality to the north-east of Patan Darbar Square. Kṛṣṇa Vīra, who apparently was the eldest of four brothers, borrowed 42 mohararupaiyās in order to cover the cost of his second brother's marriage. To repay the loan, he agrees that one or the other of the brothers will serve the creditor. The deed thus clearly contain a usufructuary pledge of bonded servitude, even if no word such as dhito, bādhā or bandhaka that denotes a pledge or a bondservant is found in it. Nor does it mention the names of the debtor's other brothers. The Mulukī Ain of 1854 (Ain-54 § 82.10) has a rule regarding working for a creditor by rotation: that only a designated bond servant can be compelled to work, but if that person dies, the creditor cannot force subsitutes to work for him.