Documenta Nepalica

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

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A copy of a rukkā from King Surendra authorizing Jagadīśvaranātha to serve as abbot of Rānāgāũ monastery (VS 1904)

ID: K_0468_0062

Edited and translated by Christof Zotter
Created: 2018-04-18; Last modified: 2018-11-28
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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 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

In this rukkā the king, who according to the date must have been Surendra, appoints Jagadīśvaranātha (text: Jagateśvaranātha) as successor of Lokanātha on the gaddī of Siddha Bhagavantanātha's maṭha in Rānāgāũ, Salyan.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1श्रीसिद्धभगवंतनाथ

⟪12⟫

⟪1रुजुदुरुस्त
2ले•भीमलाल⟫

[seal of Tīlaka Bāhādura Cã]

1सक्कलवनमोजींनक्कलदुरुस्तछ्भ
2नीरानागाउमठ्‌कोडीट्ठातील
3कवाहादुरचं¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

1स्वस्तिश्रीमन्महाराजाधीराज•कस्यरुक्का¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯ ¯
2आगे•महंतजगतेस्वरनाथके•लोकनाथवावाजीकामठग
3द्दीमातीमीलाईअषतीय़ारगरिथामीवक्स्यौं•आफ्नाषातीज्मा
4सीत•अघिदेषि•चलीआय़ाकारीतवमोजीम्‌•कामकाजग
5री•आफुलाईदरिय़ाकाजगाकोदाम्‌काम्‌•असुल्‌[?]हसील्‌गरि
6¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯ ¯कोमठगद्दीमानीत्यनैमित्यपुजाभँडारा
7चलाईहाम्रोजय़मनाईभोग्‍येगरइतीसम्वत्‌१९०४सालमिती
8चैत्रवदी११रोज५शुभ्म्‌

Translation

[1r]

the venerable (śrī) Siddha Bhagavantanātha

Attested as correct [by] Le.2 Bhīmalāla.

[seal of Tīlaka Bāhādura Cã]3

Tīlaka Bāhādura Cã, the ḍiṭṭhā of Rānāgāũ Maṭha, stating that the copy is true to the original.

Hail. [This is] an executive order of the supreme king of great kings.

Āge: to Jagateśvaranātha 4

We grant you authority over the throne of the monastery (maṭhagaddī) of Lokanātha Bābājī. Enjoy [it], doing work dutifully according to the customs that have been practised before, collecting 5 the money due (dāmakāma) on land registered in your name, observing daily and occasional pūjās and feasts on the throne of the monastery of [the venerable Siddha Bhagavantanātha], and celebrating our victory.

Thursday, the 11th of dark fortnight of Caitra of the [Vikrama] era year 1904 (1848 CE). Auspiciousness.

Commentary

The present copy—probably prepared in VS 1964 alongside the bintīpatra of Chatranātha's disciple Lokanātha (see K_0469_0033)—does not record the signatures on the backside of the original. According to the edition of the document by Naraharinatha (VS 2022: 462f.) it was channelled through (mārphata) Baṃbāhādura Kuvara, Śivaprasāda Arjyāla, Jaṅgabāhādura Kuvara and Kṛṣṇabāhādura Kuvara 6 .

For another copy of the document, found in the records of the kausī tosākhānā, see K_0354_0050.

Notes

1. This archival figure is the number of card bundle 15 of the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā records. [⇑]

2. This is apparently an abbreviation of lephaṭenaṭa (i.e. lieutenant). [⇑]

3. The legend reads: śrī tīlavīra 63. [⇑]

4. Elsewhere the name of Lokanātha's successor (in standard Sanskrit orthography Jagadīśvaranātha) appears in other orthographic variants, most commonly Jagadīsvaranātha. [⇑]

5. The rukkās authorizing Jagadīśvaranātha's successors Khīmānātha (see K_0469_0001) and Hīrānātha (see K_0469_0024) as gaddī-holder use a similar phrase, tahasīla gari ("collecting ..."), instead of hasīl gari. [⇑]

6. The names are given as they appear in Naraharinātha's edition (VS 2022: 463) with the exception that v and b are regularized. [⇑]

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.
bintīpatra	[fr. S.] var. bintipatra, biṃtipatra, bīntīpatram; n. formal letter written to an authority; more specifically, a petition or request letter. Cf. bintī.
ḍiṭṭhā	var. ḍīṭṭhā, ḍiṭhā; a civil servant ranking above a mukhiyā and lower than a subbā (cf. Stiller 1981: 379). According to Edwards 1975: 107, ḍiṭṭhās originally had been the judges who presided over the courts in Kathmandu but later could serve in a number of other offices (such as the kausī, the hāttīsāra or the sadara daphtarakhānā; see also Kumar 1967: 165; M.C. Regmi 1978: 226). The Mulukī Ain distinguishes three categories of the ḍiṭṭhās; the jaṅgī kote ḍiṭṭhā (probably, combatant personnel), the lājimā ḍiṭṭhā and the ḍiṭṭhā in charge of Elephant or horse stable or cowshed (MA-54.31.11).
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).
kausī tosākhānā	n. central state treasury which served several additional functions like the expenses and storage of goods for the royal palace and the appointment of subbās in the Tarai (cf. Edwards 1975: 111). DNA_0011_0035 suggests that even though the Kausī and the Tosākhānā formed one administrative unit headed by the khajāñcī, to a certain extent both were treated as distinct entities.
mārphat / mārphata	var. marphaṭ, mārphaṭa; “through (the person of)“ (Pant and Pierce 1989: 93).
pūjā	[S.] var. pujā; n. 1) worship, honour. 2) formal worship ritual of a revered being with offerings.
rukkā	[fr. A. ruq'a] n. an executive order, short note, missive from the highest authority. The king, the crown prince, but also queens and the Rāṇā prime ministers issued rukkās.
siddha	[S.] lit. "accomplished, perfected"; n. an ascetic of great powers and saintliness said to possess supernatural facilities (siddhi).
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.

Bibliography

Naraharinātha, Yogī. VS 2022 [1966]. Itihāsaprakāśamā Sandhipatrasaṃgraha. Dang: Ādhyātmika Sammelana.