Documenta Nepalica

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

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A copy of a loan agreement entered into by four brothers from Navalapura for borrowing 42 mohararupaiyās from a creditor in Patan (VS 1959)

ID: K_0210_0066

Edited and translated by Manik Bajracharya in collaboration with Raju Rimal
Created: 2018-08-09; Last modified: 2020-06-25
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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, 2020. 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

Abstract

This is a copy of a bond entered into by a debtor, Kṛṣṇa Vīra Rānā of Navalapura, for borrowing 42 mohararupaiyās from a creditor named Annapūrṇā Brāhmaṇī of Patan. The debtor makes a commitment that he or one of his three brothers will serve the creditor until the debt is repaid.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

श्री\

1साछी
2पाटंझतापोलवस्न्यावंसीलाल्‌जोसी¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯१
3पाटंकाअम्वलमध्येषल्वीटारवस्न्याकासीनाथलामीछाने१
4लेषकभादगाउदूनाचोटोलवस्नेहर्ककुमारकायेस्थ१

1स्वस्तिश्रीसम्वत१९५९साल्मीतिवैसाषवदी३रोज६मातद्दीनेली
2षीतमधनीकनामसहरपाटंकाअम्वलमध्येवैलाछेतोलवस्न्याअंन्नपु
3र्णाव्राह्मणीधनवेहोरीणीकनामनवलपुरकाअम्वलमध्येवीमी
4रेगाउवस्न्याश्रीभैरवनाथपल्टं८प•सी•कृस्नवीररानागतलीह
5लचादीकासीका•मोहररूपैञा४२अछेरेपीवयालीसरूपैञाक
6र्जालीयासोरूपैञांलीयाकोव़ावतमेरामाहीलाभाइकोवीहा
7गर्नाकेलीयाकोहोसोरूपैञामध्येहामी४भाइमा१भाइहामीरूजु
8रहीकामदीउलासाहुलेरूपैञाकोव्याजनषोजनु•असामीलेइमान
9षोजनु•सोरूपैञानतिरुंज्याल्‌•साहुकोकाम४भाइमा१भाइमा
10१भाइलेकामदींउलाभनिहाम्रामनोमान⟪राजि⟫षुसीलेसाहुलाइ
11त्मसुकलेषीदीञ्यूंयेसवातकासाछीवसीस्हीछापगर्न्याफट्‌
12केपट्टीलेषीयाकाछंमीतिसदरशुभ्म्¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

Translation

[1r]

Śrī

Witnesses:
Vaṃsīlāl Josī, resident of Jhatāpola in Patan - 1
Kāsīnātha Lāmichāne, resident of Khalvīṭāra 1 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.

Commentary

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.

Notes

1. The reading of this name is unclear in the original. [⇑]

2. Abbreviated as sī in the original. [⇑]

3. Abbreviated as pa in the original. [⇑]

Glossary

Word	Notes
ambala	var. aṃbala, amala, 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).
lihalagata	var. gatalīhal, gatalihala, gataliha; adj. 1) current legal currency. 2) legally borrowed (money) with a written agreement (cf. NBŚ s.v. lihala).
likhitam	[S.] var. likhitama, likhītama, likhita; 1) adj. written. 2) n. a written document (as evidence).
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.
nimeka	var. nimyāka, nimek; n. 1) value of the labour of a slave or peon. 2) compensation (cf. RRS 39: 321, MA 1854/80 §1).
palṭana	[fr. Eng. platoon] var. palṭan; n. regiment, battalion (Turner 1931: s.v. palṭan); army unit, according to Adhikari (1984: 158) smaller than a kampu. According to Hamal (1995: 32), in the early 19th century those companies stationed in the Kathmandu Valley and under the command of the general were called kampu, while those outside palṭana. Commonly, however, both were known as palṭanas.
paṭṭī	[fr. S. patti] n. a squad headed by a subedāra in the Nepalese Army.
sipāhī	[lw. H. fr. Pers.] var. sīpāhī; n. 1) a soldier. 2) a non-combatant person employed as a policeman, or an office attendant. According to Edwards "some of the sipahis assigned to the offices in the 1840s were not "soldiers", although those who stood guard at the banks and treasuries undoubtedly were affiliated with the police or military. Such guards or watchmen were deployed at the Kausi, Kumari Chowk, and surely at the Tahvils and other offices as well" (Edwards 1975: 109-110 ).
tamasuka	var. tamasuk, tamsuk; n. a deed of loan transaction.

Bibliography

MA-KM [The Mulukī Ain of 1854; Kānūna Mantrālaya's edition] = Kānūna tathā Nyāya Maṃtrālaya (ed.). VS 2022. Śrī 5 surendra vikrama śāhadevakā śāsanakālamā baneko mulukī ain. Kathmandu: Kānūna Kitaba Vyavasthā Samiti.