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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.
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⟫लालमोहर1श्रीज्युज्यूवाज्यावुवाज्यु•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
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