Documenta Nepalica

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A copy of a lālamohara from King Rājendra ordering local authorities to further exempt Bhagavantanātha's monastery from revenue payments, corvée etc. (VS 1897)

ID: K_0469_0028


Edited and translated by Christof Zotter in collaboration with Rabi Acharya
Created: 2019-04-03; Last modified: 2019-11-23
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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, 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 CCby-SA.

Abstract

In the lālamohara of which the present document is a copy, King Rājendra lists a series of financial and other civil obligations that local authorities are not to require Bhagavantanātha's monastery to fulfil.



Diplomatic edition

[1r]

⟪29⟫

लालमोहर­

1श्री­ज्युज्यू­वाज्या­वुवाज्यु­•
2२­

⟪1रुजु­दुरुस्त­छ­
2स्ही­डिट्टा­[?]तीप्रसाद­⟫

1[...]भगवंत
2[...]­

[seal]

वुझी­सकल­

[seal]

[seal]

1सकल­वमोजीम­नकल­दुरुस्त­[?]
2सही­[...]

1स्वस्ति­श्रीगिरिराजचक्रचुडामणिनरनाराये़णेत्यादिवीवीधविरु
2दावलीवीराजमानमानोन्नतदश्रीमन्महाराजाधिराजश्रीश्रीश्रीमाह
3राजराजेन्द्रवीक्रमसाहवहादुरसम्सेरजङ्देवानां­सदा­समरवीज
4यिनाम्‌­¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
5आगे­हाम्रा­भारदार­पल्टन्‌­कम्पनीका­हुद्दा­सीपाही­रकमदार­जा
6चकी­दारोगा­अमाली­गैह्र­प्रती­ ¯ ¯ १ ¯ ¯ का­मठ­जगा­बाधा­वीर्ता­भरमा­
7हीजो­ ¯ ¯ २ ¯ ¯ वाट­सर्व­रकं­झारा­वेगार­ऊघाऊनी­पघाऊनी­चुमाऊनी­
8रैकरकम्‌­•लालमोहर•ले­•माफ­•भय़ाको­रहेछ­सो­वमोजींम्‌­हामीवाट­
9पनी­थामीवक्स्यौ­कसैले­•हातपात­रोकटोक­नगर्नु­•जस्‌ले­हाम्रा­
10 हुकु•म्‌­लंघन­•गर्नामा­•पसौला­भारी­डंड­सासना­•होला­ईति­सम्वत्‌­
11१८९७­साल­मीती­•आषाढ­वदी­२­रोज­४­सुभ्म्‌­ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯[seal]

Translation

[1r]

[above the main text:]

291

lālamohara2

Venerable great-grandfather,3 grandfather and father

2

[The copy] is attested as correct; signature: Ḍiṭṭhā[...]tīprasāda4

[in the left margin:]

[...] Bhagavaṃta[nātha]5

Having received the original [and] attesting that the copy is true to the original, [...].6

[main text:]

Hail! [A decree] of him who is shining with manifold rows of eulogy [such as] "The venerable crest-jewel of the multitude of mountain kings" and Naranārāyaṇa (an epithet of Kṛṣṇa) etc., high in honour, the venerable supreme king of great kings, the thrice venerable great king, Rājendra Vikrama Śāha, the brave swordsman, the divine king always triumphant in war

Āge: to our courtiers (bhāradāra); sergeants (huddā) [and] common soldiers (sipāhī) of the regiments (palṭana) [and] companies (kampanī); revenue functionaries (rakamadāra); inspectors (jā̃cakī); elephant stable managers (dārogā); regional revenue officials (amālī) etc.

We have come to learn that in yesteryear (hijo) the whole monastery under [[...] Bhagavaṃta[nātha]]7 , [including] its [own] land, mortgaged land (bā̃dhā) and birtā8 land, was exempted by lālamoharas [issued] by [the venerable great-grandfather, grandfather and father]9 from all revenue payments (rakama), corvée (jhārā), compulsory porterage services (begāra), ughāunī paghāunī homestead taxes, the levy imposed on the occasion of a royal initiation (text: cumāūnī, mod. Nep. cuvāna / cumāvana)10 [and other] revenue collected (rairakama). Accordingly, we too have confirmed11 [this privilege]. No one shall interfere with or hinder [its exercise]. He who becomes entangled12 in transgressing our order will be severely punished.

Wednesday, the 2nd of the dark fortnight of Āṣāḍha of the [Vikrama] era year 1897 (1840 CE).13 Auspiciousness.


Commentary

In 1840, the mahanta of Bhagavantanātha's maṭha was Lokanātha, the disciple of Rūpanātha. A decade later, Lokanātha's disciple and successor, Jagadīśvaranātha, called upon the government to resolve another revenue dispute, and in reply the prime minister—by that time Jaṅga Bahādura Kũvara Rāṇā—reconfirmed an earlier mohara (probably the present lālamohara) announcing a "sarvāṅka māpha" (for sarvāṅgamāpha).14

The present document was issued in a period of increasing tension that followed the death of Bhīmasena Thāpā in 1839 and led to the fall of the so-called “Kala Pandeys” in 1843, and finally the Kot massacre in 1846. The copy edited here, which was probably prepared in 1907,15 does not record the signatures on the backside of the original.16 According to the edition of the document by Naraharinatha (VS 2022: 462) it was channelled through (mārphata) and/or attested by (ruju) Karavīra Pā̃ḍe, Tārānātha Arjyāla, Dalabhaṃjana Pāṃḍe, Phattyajaṅga Sāha, Puṣkara Sāha, Prasāda Siṃha Basnyāta and Raṇajora Thāpā.17 As we know from a detailed report Resident Brian Houghton Hodgson sent from Kathmandu on 3 July 1840 (published in Stiller 1981: 14-23), three of the signees were among the five nobles whose houses were plundered during the mutiny of the Kathmandu garrison that took place on the night of 21 June 1840, just four days after the present document was issued. 18 These were: the brother of MukhtiyāraRaṇajaṅga Pā̃ḍe19 , Kājī Karavīra Pā̃ḍe, who was working at the Kumārī Coka at the time; 20 the head of the Kauśī, Kājī Prasāda Siṃha Basnyāta; 21 and the former prime minister Cautariyā Puṣkara Śāha. 22

Notes

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

2. This word was added by the copyist. According to Yogī Naraharinātha's edition, the (original) document starts with the invocations śrīdurgā bhavāni and śrīdurgā sahāyaḥ before the names to be inserted in the main text (see below) are given (Naraharinātha VS 2022: 462). [⇑]

3. I read jyujyū (or—as Naraharinātha's edition (VS 2022: 462) has it—jyūjyū) as jijyū. [⇑]

4. The first part of the name cannot be read with certainty. [⇑]

5. In Naraharinātha's edition, the name of the monastery founder is given above the main text and reads "ŚrīSiddhaBhagavaṃtanātha" (Naraharinātha VS 2022: 462). In the present document it is written in the left margin, and due to damage and folding only "Bhagavaṃta" is legible. [⇑]

6. The note in the left margin is only partially readable, and the legend of the seal impressed three times beside the note and one time in the lower part of the main text cannot be deciphered at all. Thus the person who attested and sealed the copy is unknown. However, based on other documents (see e.g. K_0469_0027 or K_0469_0029), it can be assumed that he was probably Lokanātha (the disciple of MahantaChatranātha), who sent a batch of document copies attached to his bintīpatra (see K_0469_0033) in VS 1964 (1907 CE). [⇑]

7. Inserted from the left margin. [⇑]

8. While the present document spells the word vīrtā, Naraharinātha's edition has vṛttā (Naraharinātha VS 2022: 462). [⇑]

9. Inserted from the space above the main text. [⇑]

10. Naraharinātha's edition has cumāni (Naraharinātha VS 2022: 462). [⇑]

11. The present document has °baksyau. In Naraharinātha's edition (VS 2022: 462) the correct form °baksyauṃ is used. [⇑]

12. The verb pasnu (to enter, come in) is here understood in the sense of phasnu or aljhanu (cf. Parājulī et al. VS 2072: s.v. pasnu). [⇑]

13. The date corresponds to 17 June 1840. [⇑]

14. The prime minister's letter (patra) to Jagadīśvaranātha (text: Jagadeśvaranātha) is dated VS 1906, Vaiśākha vadi 13, Friday. For an edition, see Naraharinātha VS 2022: 463. [⇑]

15. Cf. note 6. [⇑]

16. There are indications that something is written on the backside of the copy (see left margin). Unfortunately, no image of the backside is available. [⇑]

17. The names are given as spelled in Naraharinātha's edition (VS 2022: 462) with the exception that v and b are regularized. [⇑]

18. The other two chiefs plundered by the mutineers were Raṅganātha Paṇḍita and Kularāja Pā̃ḍe (Stiller 1981: 17). According to Hodgson, the mutiny was orchestrated by the senior queen Sāmrājyalakṣmī Devī and her agents to pressurize the king. For a critical analysis of Hodgson’s interpretation, see Whelpton 1991: 78-85. [⇑]

19. Supported by the senior queen Sāmrājyalakṣmī, Raṇajaṅga Pā̃ḍe was appointed as chief minister in February 1840 (Stiller 1981: 3, 5). On 1 November 1840 he was replaced as mukhtiyāra by CautariyāPhattya Jaṅga Śāha who took over power only in January 1841 after a new cabinet was negotiated (Stiller 1981: 3f., 47, 61 and passim). [⇑]

20. Karavīra was removed from office in December 1840 (Stiller 1981: 54, 56, 61, 71, 75). [⇑]

21. Like Karavīra, he was removed from office in December 1840 (Stiller 1981: 56, 75). [⇑]

22. Puṣkara Śāha’s house was midway between the town and the Residency, and Hodgson was afraid that the mutineers might attack him, but they returned to the city to continue their devastation there (Stiller 1981: 16). [⇑]