Documenta Nepalica

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

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A copy of a purjī from Bhīma Śamśera to the Guṭhī Kharca Aḍḍā re the feeding of the poor during Baḍādasaĩ (VS 1967)

ID: K_0488_0012

Edited and translated by Astrid Zotter in collaboration with Pabitra Bajracharya
Created: 2019-05-27; Last modified: 2019-11-04
For the metadata of the document, click here

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

Abstract

The purjī from Commander-in-Chief General Bhīma Śamśera of which this is a copy directs officials of the Gūṭhī Kharca Aḍḍā to buy pastries, sweets and yoghurt instead of gelded goats to feed the poor at the public kitchen (pākaśālā) of Pūrṇeśvara on the occasion of the Baḍādasaĩ festival in VS 1967.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

155

[Unknown seal]

1सकलवमोजिम्‌नकलदुरुस्टछस्हीनौ
2नरोतमधर∙¯¯¯¯¯¯

1श्री\

1श्रीपुर्णेश्वर
2२

1श्री३सर्कार
2१

1स्वस्तिश्रीमद्राजकुमारकुमारात्मजश्रीकम्यांडरईनचिफ्‌जनरलभीमसम्सेरजङ्गवहादुरराणाकस्य¯ ¯१¯तर्फ[?]ठीषर्चअडा
2काहाकिंकारींदाहरुकेपुर्जिउप्रांत¯ ¯२¯पाक्साला∙माभातषाने∙[?]रीवहरुलाईयो६७सालका[?]सैमांनालाई∙मो
3रु२४कोषसीमोरु३कोघ्यूमसलाज्मामोहरू∙२७दिनुभंन्या६७सालअस्वीणगते३मातेसअडालाईसनद[?]
4रीवक्सेकोछतापनिसोषसीष्वाउनपर्दैनदर[?]वमोजिमभातर[?][?]२७सताइसके[?][?]
5मीठाईदहिषरीदगरीगुठीजाचअडाका[?][?][?]अष्टमीरनवमीदसमी[?][?][?]नेकामग[?]
6ईतीसम्वत१९६७सालमीतीकार्तिकगते[?]रोज२शुभ्म्¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯

Translation

[1r]

551

[Unknown seal]

The copy is true to the original. Signature: Nau[sindā?]Narotamadhara

Śrī

Śrī Purṇeśvara – 2

Śrī 3 Sarkāra – 1

Hail! A purjī of the venerable Commander-in-Chief General Bhīma Samsera Jaṅga Bahādura Rāṇā, a venerable prince born of a prince, to the chief and clerk(s) of the Guṭhī Kharca Aḍḍā under [Śrī 3 Sarkāra]2

Uprānta: On the 3rd solar day of the month of Āśvina in the [Vikrama Era] year [19]67 an order (sanada)3 was issued to your (lit. "that") office stating: "Disburse a total of 27 mohararupaiyā̃s (text: moharu)—[for] gelded goats worth 24 morus and ghee and spice(s) worth 3 morus—for observing the Baḍādasaĩ4 of this year, [VS 19]67, [with a feast] for the poor people who take their meals (lit. "cooked rice") at the kitchen (pākaśālā) of [Śrī Purṇeśvara]5 ." However, these gelded goats need not to be served. Perform the task of [serving] cooked rice according to the [same] list (darabandhi) [as before] and buy mālapuvā, suhārī (text: svāhārī), sweets and yoghurt for the 27 moharus, appoint persons from the Guṭhī Jā̃ca Aḍḍā as witnesses and [feed the poor] on the eighth, ninth and tenth [lunar days of the month of Āśvina].6

Monday, the 8th solar day (gate) of Kārttika in the [Vikrama era] year 1967 (1910 CE). Auspiciousness.

Commentary

The order pertains to the nutrition practices at the Pūrṇeśvarapākaśālā on the occasion of the autumnal Dasaĩ. It is part of a set of documents that testify to the feeding of meat of gelded goats and (in one exceptional case) of a sheep from 1954 onwards (see K_0614_0041, K_0614_0041, K_0660_0052, K_0664_0017 and K_0667_0036). The present document overrules another sanada sent about a month earlier (K_0488_0009), or rather sanctions a change in the feeding practice. From the next year on the arrangement laid out in the present document (i.e. to serve pastries, sweets and yoghurt with the same funds as were formerly allocated for serving meat) became the common practice (see K_0382_0029 etc.). A similar change is seen to have occurred simultaneously in the nearby Lakṣmeśvarapākaśālā (see K_0351_0071, K_0351_0072, K_0128_0057). The documents do not disclose the reason for replacing meat by vegetarian food.

Notes

1. This number was added by a later hand, probably when the documents were microfilmed, using Arabic numerals. It refers to the position of the document in the bundle (pokā) number 8 Pan no. 1 (cf. registration number on the NGMPP catalogue card), extending from K_0487_0024 (no. 1) to K_0489_0031 (no. 139). All documents in the batch are dated VS 1967 and were issued by Bhīma Śamśera. Many of them were copied by the same person as the present one. [⇑]

2. Inserted from the space numbered 1 above. [⇑]

3. The said sanada is extant as a copy (K_0488_0009). [⇑]

4. Due to an overexposure of the microfilm some akṣaras are illegible. Here and in the following they have been supplied on the basis of the parallel document K_0488_0009. [⇑]

5. Inserted from the space numbered 2 above. [⇑]

6. The passage between the mention of the lunar days and "perform the task of" (...ne kāma gara) is illegible, except for dīna (either "to give" or "day(s)" or a part of another word). It should say something like "to feed the poor". Given the fact that the present document was issued about a week after the tithis, on the 8th solar day of Kārttika, corresponding to 24 October 1910 / 6th of the dark fortnight of the month of Kārttika, one expects that the passage in question would have expressed that these things were already done and should now be recorded as a precedent for future practice. [⇑]

Glossary

Word	Notes
baḍā dasaĩ	var. baḍā dasai; also mahā dasaĩ; n. festival to worship the goddess Durgā as slayer of the buffalo demon, held over the bright half of the autumn month of Āśvina. Cf. dasaĩ / daśaĩ.
dasaĩ / daśaĩ	[fr. S. daśāha] var. dasai; n. festival to worship the goddess Durgā as slayer of the buffalo demon, held over the bright half of the autumn month of Āśvina (baḍā dasaĩ) and, on a smaller scale, over the bright half of the spring month of Caitra (caite dasaĩ).
Guṭhī Jā̃ca Aḍḍā	n. an institution serving an oversight function within the state’s supervision of local guṭhī management, for example in matters relating to tender arrangements.
Guṭhī Kharca Aḍḍā	n. office responsible for managing the expenses of the guṭhīs working under the head of the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā; two separate Guṭhī Kharca Aḍḍās managed the śrī 5 sarkāra guṭhīs and the śrī 3 sarkāra guṭhīs.
mālapuvā	n. small, sweet, thick fritters made of wheat flour, sugar and spices or of bananas, milk, sugar and spices; prepared on festive occasions in Nepal and Northern India (Pathak 2007: 341; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malpua).
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.
nausindā	n. a scribe or a clerk of lower rank responsible of translating, registry and accounts; “They were the lowest rank of scribes. There were more personnel in this rank than in any other within the "civilian" hierarchy (and excluding the sipahis). A considerable number of them worked in the offices of registry and accounts. Nausindas registered the papers which came in and left the offices and copied letters and documents.“ (Edwards 1975: 109 ; cf. M.C. Regmi 1978: 228 ; Adhikari 1984: 354 ; Kumar 1967: 167 )
pākaśālā	[S.] var. pākasālā; n. 1) kitchen. 2) public kitchen set up to feed the poor and needy (K_0351_0071).
purjī	[fr. P. purja] var. purji, pūrjī; n. 1) slip of paper, note. 2) formal letter written by a government institution or an official to another institution or to a person.
sanada	var. sanad; n. a regulation, order, decree or certificate of appointment, esp. from the prime minister (prāimaminisṭara yaṇḍa kamyāṇḍara ina cipha) or the commander-in-chief general (kamyāṇḍara ina cipha janarala); "government orders" (Karmacharya 2001: 327).
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.
śrī 3 sarkāra	lit. "three-times venerable ruler"; title used by the Rāṇā prime ministers (cp. Whelpton 2005: 266).
suhārī / svārī	[S. su-āhārī] var. svāhārī; n. very thin, soft, fried bread made of wheat flour, folded in half or into a triangle; prepared on festive occasions and sold in sweet shops (Pathak 2007: 105).
tithi	[S.] n. lunar day (the increase of the longitudinal angle between the Moon and the Sun by 12°) that lasts between appr. 19 and 26 hours.
uprānta	var. uprāṃta, ūprāṃnta, ūprā̃nta, prāṃta; also yathocita uprānta; conj. after that, besides, in addition to, hereafter. In earlier prose and official documents, this word marked the beginning of a text or paragraph. It has no equivalent in English (Clark 1989: 231). In some (mostly Rāṇā period?) documents, it takes the form of yathocita uprānta.