Documenta Nepalica

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A receipt for the payment of arrears on a ṭheka by the mukhiyā of Pāro Gāũ to the Commanding General of the Western Front (1951 VS)

ID: Tsum_0001_0029

Edited and translated by Nadine Plachta and Rajendra Shakya
Created: 2018-03-11; Last modified: 2020-08-05
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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, 2018. Published with the support of the Nile Labrang, Tsum. The copyright of the facsimile remains with Nadine Plachta. 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 receipt for the payment of arrears on a ṭheka by Lhārkyāp, mukhiyā of Pāro Gāũ, through Jimmāvāla Karmā Lāmā to the Commanding General of the Western Front.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1श्रीपश्चीम्‌तर्फकाकम्यांडीङ्‌जनरल
2१

[Unknown seal]

1स्वस्तिश्रीथापाथली¯ ¯१¯साहेवकातहसील्‌अडाकस्यपत्रम्¯¯¯ ¯¯¯
2आगेदाषीलाआम्दानीवक्यौतामध्ये¯ ¯१¯साहेवकाषांगी
3मादरीय़ाकोअठारसय़ेषोलामध्येदोच्येतर्फस्यारपट्टीका
4जीम्माव़ालकर्मालामातर्फपारागाउकोमुषीय़ाल्हार्क्या
5पको५०साल्‌काठेकमध्ये५०साल्‌कोमाघकीस्तामध्ये
6असुलभैआय़ाकोमार्फतनीजजीम्माव़ाल्‌हस्तेवहीदार
7मानवीरलेस्हीछापगरीवुझाय़ाकोमोहर्रु१९६/|१सा
8व़ावाकीनव्येपाचपैसाय़ेकदाम्‌तहवील्‌दारईन्दूदीप[?]
9जीम्मातहवीलदाषील्‌भय़ोतस्कोरसीदगरीदीञ्यूं¯¯¯ ¯¯¯
10तपसील्

[table1]

1	साव़ावाकी१८७///मध्ये	१८७///
2a-b	व्याज५०साल्‌फागुणवदी३०रोजदेषी५१साल्‌भा द्रवदी५रोजतकमैन्हा\|\|५\|२१को	८\|\|\|//\|१

11¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯
12ईतीसम्वत्‌१९५१साल्‌भाद्रवदी६रोज४शुभ्म्¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯¯¯[Unknown seal]

Translation

[1r]

Venerable Commanding General of the Western Front - 1

Hail! A letter from Tahasila Aḍḍā under the Venerable [Commanding General of the Western Front]1 [residing at] Thāpāthalī

Āge: The arrears in the collection of revenue in the Māgha installment of the year [VS 19]50 under the ṭheka contract [to be paid by] Pāro Gāũ’s Mukhiyā Lhārkyāp to Karmā Lāmā, jimmāvāla of the Syāra in the Doce sector of Aṭhāra Saya Kholā registered as khānagī of [the Commanding General of the Western Front]2 , were received from the said jimmāvāla by Bahīdāra Māna Vīra, who entered the amount of 196 mohararupaiyā̃s, 1 ānā, 1 paisā, 1 dāma as the arrears [on] the principal under his signature, ninty [mohararupaiyā̃s] 5 paisās, 1 dāma being deposited into the treasury account under the authority of Tahabildāra Īndu Dīpa. A receipt for the same was issued.

Details

[table]

	From arrears [on] the principal	187 mohararupaiyā̃s, 3 ānās
	Interest of 5 months and 21 days from the 30th of the dark fortnight of Phālguna in the year [VS 19]50 to the 5th of the dark fortnight of Bhādra in the year [VS 19]51	8 mohararupaiyā̃s, 3 sukās, 2 ānās, 1 paisā, 1 dāma

Wednesday, the 6th of dark fortnight of Phālguna in the [Vikrama] era year 1951 (1894 CE). Auspiciousness.

Commentary

This document, issued during the reign of Prime Minister Vīra Śamśera (1885-1901), does not mention the name of the Commanding General of the Western Front. Pāro Gāũ’s Mukhiyā Lhārkyāp appears to be Karmā Jeṭhā Pāsāṅ Lhārkyāl Norbu, a person mentioned as the mukhiyā of Pāro Gāũ in other documents from Tsum (Tsum_0001_0012 and Tsum_0001_0014). He was serving serving as mukhiyā of Pāro Gāũ as early as 1887.

Notes

1. Inserted from the space above. [⇑]

2. Inserted from the space above. [⇑]

Glossary

Word	Notes
āge	[fr. S. agre] adv. lit. "henceforeward" (Riccardi 1976: 150 n. 6), especially used in administrative and legal documents to mark the beginning of a text or paragraph. In its function it is similar to uprānta.
ānā	[fr. S. āṇvaka- ?] n. 1) monetary unit worth one sixteenth of a rupee with four ānā*s constituting one sukā, equivalent to one ganḍā; in documents usually represented by one to three diagonal dashes, sometimes as a loop with two or three jags. 2) sixteenth part of land, property etc. (cf. Parājulī et al 1995: s.v. ānā).
bahīdāra / baidāra	var. bahidāra; n. lit. "record-keeper". 1) accountant, clerk, scribe; civil functionary entrusted with writing official documents, ranking above the nausindā (cf. Adhikari 1984: 345; Parājuli et al. 1995). 2) a military functionary (cf. Kumar 1967: 164).
dāma	var. dām; n. the smallest monetary unit, one-fourth of one paisā (in case of measurements of land etc.) and one-256th of one mohararupaiyā̃.
jimmāvāla	var. jimavāla, jimmavāla, jimvāla; n. a chief contractor (ṭhekedāra) who, before the introduction of the land administration, collected revenues from the lands in the hill region and submitted them to the government (Parājulī et al. 1995: s.v. jimmāvāla).
khānagī / khānkī / khāngī	n. 1) salary, wages, or an annual emolument. 2) emoluments of government employees and functionaries, generally in the form of land assignments (M.C. Regmi 1978: 227; cf. M.C. Regmi 1978: 860; Adhikari 1984: 351). 3) rents accruing from the lands assigned to jāgiradāras (cf. M.C. Regmi 1965: 18-19).
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.
mukhiyā	var. mukhīyā, muṣiyā, muṣīyā; n. a designation for an administrative post used at the local, district and central level. At the local level mukhiyās functioned as village headmen and revenue functionaries (Pant and Pierce 1989: 93; M.R. Pant 2002: 134; cf. M.C. Regmi 1988: 269). District headmen were also called mukhiyās. In the central administration, mukhiyās were writers who kept accounts or supervised officials of lower ranks (Edwards 1975: 107 ; cf. M.C. Regmi 1978: 228 ; M.C. Regmi 1978: 862 ; Kumar 1967: 16).
paisā	n. 1) money. 2) in the early Śāha period: monetary unit, one-fourth of an ānā, consisting of four dāmas with 64 paisās in 1 rūpaiyā̃. 3) in the Rāṇā period: monetary unit with 100 paisās in 1 rūpaiyā̃.
tahabiladāra	[fr. A.] var. tahavīldāra; n. cashier or treasurer of a government institution (cf. Adhikari 1984: 357; Karmacharya 2001: 326), they would "receive the money brought in and pay the fees and salaries of the officials of that office [i.e. the Kumārīcoka].“ (Edwards 1975: 108).
tahasila aḍḍā	office responsible for collecting dues and receiving taxes.
ṭheka	var. thega; n. "generic term used to denote various categories of contractual systems for the collection of taxes" (Michael 2012: 135; cf. M.C. Regmi 1988: 270).