Documenta Nepalica

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

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A copy of a purjī from C-in-C General Bhīma Śamśera instructing the Guṭhī Kharca Aḍḍā to disburse funds to mahantas on the occasion of Baḍā Dasaĩ (VS 1969)

ID: K_0384_0065

Edited and translated by Astrid Zotter in collaboration with Pabitra Bajracharya
Created: 2022-06-17; Last modified: 2022-01-26
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, 2022. 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 officers of the Gūṭhī Kharca Aḍḍā to disburse a customary sum for rituals to be performed during the Baḍā Dasaĩ festival in VS 1969 to Rāma Agya Dās and Gaṃgā Gīrī, the abbots (mahanta) of the akhāḍās of Vairāgī and Daśanāmī ascetics, respectively.

Diplomatic edition

[1v]

1श्री\

1श्रीजङ्‌गनंदप्रकासेश्वर
2२

1श्री३सर्कार
2१

1ष:भवप्रसादसकलवमोजींनकल्‌दुरुस्तछलेषं
2दास्‌सेरवहादुरस्ही

1⟪61⟫

1स्वस्तिश्रीमद्राजकुमारकुमारात्मजश्रीकम्यांडरईनचीफजनरलसरभीमसम्सेरजङ्गवहादुरराणाकेसी•भी•ओ•कस्य
2¯ ¯१¯तर्फगुठीषर्चअडाकाहाकींकारींदाहरुकेपुर्जीऊप्रान्तवैरागीदसनामीअषडामायो६९सालकावडादसैमादेवदेवताका
3पुजापाठगर्नाकेमोहर्रु१२५वक्सवक्सेकोछतेसअडालाईभयाकाअैंसवालकोरीतपुर्‍याई¯ ¯२¯तर्फगुठीकास्याहामाषर्चलेषी
4सोमोहर्रू१२५यकसयेपचीसरुपैञासोवैरागीदसनामीअषडाकामहंतहस्तेदीनुवहीवुझदानीजमहंतकासहीछापपरेकास्या
5हावमोजींमोजराहोला¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
6तपसील

[table1]

1	वैरागीअषडाकेमहंतरामआग्यादास्‌हस्तेदीनेमोहरुयकसय	१००
2	दसनामीअषडाकेमहंतगंगागीरीहस्तेदीनेमोहरुपचीस्‌	२५

7ईतीसम्वत१९६९सालआश्वीं२५गतेरोज५शुभ्म्‌¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

Translation

[1r]

[Invocatio:]

Śrī

[In the space above the main text:]

Śrī Jaṅganaṃdaprakāseśvara – 2

Śrī 3 Sarkāra – 1

[Addition:]

611

[In the margin:]

Kha[ridāra]Bhava Prasāda. The copy is true to the original. Lekhanadāsa Sera Bahādura, Signature2 :

[Main text:]

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

Uprānta: For performing worship of deities and recitations during the Baḍā Dasaĩ of the current year, [VS 19]69, in the Daśanāmī and Vairāgī akhāḍās 125 moha[ra]ru[paiyā]̃s have been allocated [by us]. Follow the customs according to the law and administrative directives (savāla) of your office, write down the expenses into the account book of the [Śrī Jaṅganaṃdaprakāseśvara]Guṭhī and place these 125—[in words] one hundred twenty-five—moharus into the hands of the abbots (mahanta) of those Vairāgī and Daśanāmī akhaḍās. It will be deducted when accounts are cleared according to the account books that bear the signatures and seals of the said mahantas.

Particulars:

[table1]

	To be handed over to the mahanta of the Vairāgī akhaḍā, Rāma Āgya Dās, one hundred moharus	100
	To be handed over to the mahanta of the Daśanāmī akhaḍā, Gaṃgā Gīrī, twenty-five moharus	25

Tuesday, the 17th solar day (gate) of Āśvina in the [Vikrama] era year 1969 (1912 CE). Auspiciousness.

Commentary

For a copy of the same order issued a year earlier, see K_0382_0036. The only major difference apart from spelling variants is the extension of the issuer's titles by "Sir" (text: sara) and KCVO, Knight Commander of the "Royal Victorian Order". This order was founded in 1896 by Queen Victoria, and the title was bestowed by her on Bhīma Śamśera on 24 December 1911.

Notes

1. This number was added by a later hand using Arabic numerals. It refers to the position of the document in the bundle (pokā) number 13 of the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā. For more on this number, see note 1 in the edition of K_0382_0029. [⇑]

2. After the word "signature" a signature follows that could be either the kharidāra's or the lekhanadāsa's. [⇑]

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

Glossary

Word	Notes
akhāḍā	[fr. S. akṣavāṭa-] var. akhaḍā. n. lit. "wrestling ground", military station of ascetics; organised group of fighting ascetics. akhāḍās are found e.g. in the traditions of the Śaiva Daśanāmī, the Vaiṣṇava Vairāgī and the Sikh affiliated Udāsī (Clark 2012).
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.
daśanāmī	[S.] n. an order of Śaiva ascetics said to be founded by Śaṅkarācharya.
guṭha / guṭhi / guṭhī	[fr. S. goṣṭhī] var. guṭh, guthi; n. 1) a socio-religious organization that manages and finances religious and charitable functions, a trust. 2) “endowed lands or other sources of revenue for financing religious and charitable functions“ (M.R. Pant 2002: 132; cf. M.C. Regmi 1988: 267).
Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā	var. Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍā; n. "Guthi Administration Office", office responsible for the management of guṭhīs; established under Jaṅga Bahādura Rāṇā in 1852-1853 as replacement of the former Guṭhī Kacaharī. Its foundation marks the change from the guṭhīyāri system of the guṭhī management to the contractor based system; remained the central office to coordinate all offices subsequently established for handling different aspects of guṭhī management, including the Guṭhī Kharca Aḍḍā and others. Separate Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍās managed the śrī 5 sarkāra guṭhīs and the śrī 3 sarkāra guṭhīs (cf. M.C. Regmi 1978: 713-715).
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.
KCVO	title of a member of the second class (Knight Commander) of the "Royal Victorian Order", founded in 1896 by Queen Victoria; another class is: GCVO. The title was bestowed on Bhīma Śamśera Jaṅga Bahādura Rāṇā (24 December 1911).
kharadāra / kharidāra	[fr. P.] var. kharīdāra, ṣaridāra; n. secretary, official scribe, office superintendent (cf. Kumar 1967: 166).
lekhanadāsa	[S.] n. person or officer who scribes documents for private or official transactions.
mahanta	[S.] var. mahaṃta; n. the temporal and spiritual head of a centre (āśrama, maṭha, sthāna, akhāḍā) or wandering group (khālsā) of an ascetic order (cf. Burghart 1976: 100); an abbot.
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.
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.
savāla	n. 1) an enquiry. 2) a set of directives issued especially for the administrative purposes. Contrary to a sanada which is applicable to general public, a savāla refers to rules within a particular organization or an administrative unit (see Siṃha 1981 sv svāla. 3) rules and regulations enacted based on an existing law; administrative regulations (Adhikari 1984: 356; Karmacharya 2001: 328).
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).
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.
vairāgī / bairāgī	[S. vairāgin] var. bairagi; a vaiṣṇava ascetic, religious devotee (cf. Turner 1931: s.v. bairagi); specific. a member of the Rāmānandī order