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

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A copy of a lālamohara from King Gīrvāṇayuddha reconfirming Viṣṇu Sāhī as being in charge of the sword of the dasaĩghara at Nuvakot (VS 1864)

ID: K_0029_0033C

Edited and translated by Astrid Zotter
Created: 2021-02-08; Last modified: 2021-03-22
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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, 2021. 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

This copy of a lālamohara from the king, who according to the date must have been Gīrvāṇayuddha, confirms that Viṣṇu Sāhī is to be in charge of the sword of the dasaĩghara of Nuvakot. He is entitled to enjoy the income from the trust (guṭhī) land specified in the details.

Diplomatic edition

[114r]

1⟪६६नं⟫

1⟪जैसीकोठावाट
2नकलवमोजिंनकलदुरुस्तछ⟫

1आगेवीष्णूसाहीके•नुव़ाकोट्‌दसैघर•कोष़ाडोसमातनके•तीम्रा
2संतानछोडी•अरुलाईनदिनु•भनीगर्‍य़ाकोरहछ•तेहीवमोजिं•
3हामीलेठामीवक्स्यौ•आफनाषातीरज्मासंगषाडाकातहलमारु
4जुरही•हाम्राजैमनाई•तपसीलवमोजिंको•षेत•गुठीजानीभो•
5ग्‍य•गर
6तपसील

[table1]

1	नुव़ाकोट्‌कोडमकीतारमुरी•	५०	चर्कुष्णामुरी	२०
2	रातमाघामुरी	२०	डाङमैमुरी	१०
3	त्री•वैनीमुरी	५०	नीलीवोकधर्‍याडींरोपनी	११
4	ज्माषेट		१

7इतीपौषसुडी१रोज[?]

[Unknown seal 1]

[Unknown seal 2]

Translation

[114r]

[Addition in the left margin:]

no. 661

From the Jaisīkoṭhā office:

The copy is true to the copy.

[Main text:]

Āge: To Vīṣṇū Sāhī.

It appears that it has been ruled that, except for your offspring, [you] must not let others touch the sword of the dasaĩghara of Nuvākoṭ. We support [continuing on] in accordance with this. Be present for services requiring the sword, celebrate our triumphs, consider the field specified in the details as [your] guṭhī and enjoy it, being mindful of your duties.

Details (tapasila)

[table1]

1	[at] Ḍamakītāra 2 in Nuvākoṭ, murīs	50	[at] Carkuṣṇa,3 murīs	20
2	[at] Rātamāghā,4 murīs	20	[at] Ḍāṅamai,5 murīs	10
3	[at] Trīvainī,6 murīs	50	[at] Nīlīvoka,7 plot for erecting a building (ghaḍerī), ropanīs	11
4	Total [land] in khetas8		1

[Wednes]day, the 1st of the bright fortnight of Pauṣa.9

[Unknown seal 1]

[Unknown seal 2]

Commentary

Another copy of a lālamohara with what seems to be the same text, except for the date and some figures in the tapasila, is extant as K_0002_0002C. This copy gives the date of issue as the 15th of the bright fortnight of Māgha in VS 1864, roughly one and a half months after the present document. In one or both of these dates some errors seem to have occurred when they were copied (see note on the date of the present document above). Likewise, and as also detailed in the notes to the translation, there must have been confusion over the names of the individual land tracts and the calculation given in the details. As the present document according to the marginal note is a copy of a copy it is impossible to infer the original readings in these cases.

The document reconfirms the person in charge of a sword in the dasaĩghara of Nuvakot. This seems to concern the practice of worshipping and parading royal swords during the autumnal Dasaĩ festival (see Zotter 2018: 288 and passim). The person appointed seems to have been the dvāre of Nuvakot. The roles and duties of the dvāre, in the case of Nuvakot a kind of stadtholder with administrative and ritual rights and duties, were fixed when Pṛthvīnārāyaṇa Śāha shifted the capital to Kathmandu.10 In Śaka Samvat 1690 (1768 CE) Naijarāma Medasi Sāhi was appointed to speak the formulas of ritual commitment (saṃkalpa) in the procession of the goddess (devījātrā) and during Dasaĩ, replacing family members of the kings of Nepāla, i.e. the Malla kings, in these roles.11 The text specifies: "From now on you should perform the worship procedures and saṃkalpas we have to perform in the procession of Śrī Bhairavī and in the sword procession of Śrī Tulajā during Dasaĩ there. After your demise your descendants should perform [these tasks]."12 For these duties of what the text calls a "royal guṭhiyāra" (rāja guṭhiyāra) an emolument (jāgira) in land was specified. The role of the dvāre as representative of the king in rituals persisted down to the modern period, with him appearing as carrier of the royal sword and speaker of the saṃkalpa formulas (Gutschow 2011: 1: 157–159). Moreover, the "house of the Dvāre ... as representative of the king, marks almost exactly the central position between the house of the royal deity and the palace" (ibid.: 1: 159).

Given this evidence it seems likely that Viṣṇu Sāhī, the addressee of the present document, was a descendant of Naijarāma Medāsi Sāhi and had been the dvāre of Nuvakot. The duties relating to the sword of the dasaĩghara that the documents refer to are likely those Pṛthvīnārāyaṇa's charter refers to as the "worship procedures and saṃkalpas we (i.e. the king) have to perform in the sword procession of Śrī Tulajā during Dasaĩ" (dasaĩmā śrī tulajākā ṣaḍgajātrāmā hāmile garnu parne pūjāvidhi saṃkalpa), even if we cannot be absolutely sure. Another possibility—less likely but not completely impossible—would be that under the Śāha kings a new separate dasaĩghara had been erected at Nuvakot, as was done in the palace of Kathmandu (see K_0625_0039) and Viṣṇu Sāhī was in charge of a sword different from the one belonging to the Taleju temple and used for the Malla kings.

Notes

1. This number refers to the position of the document in the assemblage of lālamohara texts copied in the Jaisīkoṭhā. The bound material, microfilmed sequentially from K_0028_0032 (front cover and index) up to K_0031_0014, covers the main body (i.e. excluding the initial and final formalities) of 303 royal documents from the period VS 1847–1864 concerning different guṭhīs. [⇑]

2. In the other copy of the document (K_0002_0002C) this place name reads Damakīṭāra [⇑]

3. The scribe may have intended to write Cārkṛṣṇa. In K_0002_0002C this place name is rendered as what can best be read as Vakulyāmuse, probably joining the name and the word muri as found in the original. [⇑]

4. In K_0002_0002C the place name is equally unclear, there looking something like Rātamāṭrā. [⇑]

5. In K_0002_0002C Dāhumai. [⇑]

6. K_0002_0002C has the same spelling. [⇑]

7. In K_0002_0002C Tālīcoka. [⇑]

8. If this number is meant to represent the total amount of land accounted for above, then the calculation is faulty. One kheta consists of 100 murīs or 25 ropanīs, while the figures above add up to 150 murīs, i.e. 1.5 khetas, plus 11 ropanīs, yielding altogether 194 murīs or close to 2 khetas. The account resulting from the other copy of the document likewise is faulty, again adding up to more than 100 murīs. [⇑]

9. The year is given at the beginning of the whole batch of documents, before K_0029_0030B, as VS 1864. Thus the date would correspond to Wednesday, 30 December 1807. In what seems to be another copy of the same text (K_0002_0002C, see Commentary) the date reads Saturday, the 15th of the bright fortnight of Māgha in VS 1864. This latter lunar date would correspond to 11 February 1808, which fell on a Thursday. Thus there seems be some confusion over the particulars of the date here, so far unresolved. [⇑]

10. Vajrācāryā and Śreṣṭha VS 2032: 77, 86; appendix pp. 74–75, docs. 13, 15, 16. The dvāre also received a rod (chari) as an insignia of his authority (for the inscription on the rod, which was decorated with silver on the occasion of a royal wedding in VS 1897 (1830 CE), see ibid.: appendix, p. 57, inscription 60). [⇑]

11. The text reads: "It appears that earlier the brothers and sons of the kings of Nepāla had to perform the saṃkalpas [in] the worship procedures in Nuvākoṭa's devījātrā and during Dasaĩ. When the royal astrologer here was shown [possible candidates and checked their horoscopes], your name was picked. (aghi nuvākoṭakā devijātrā ra dasaĩmā nepāli rājākā bhāī chorāle pujāvidhi saṃkalpa garnupardo rahecha. Tas nimitta ñāhā vaḍā josilāī herāũdā tumro naũmā juryo. Vajrācāryā and Śreṣṭha VS 2032: appendix pp. 73–74, doc. 15). [⇑]

12. tāhākā śrī bhairavikā jātrā ra dasaĩmā śrī tulajākā ṣaḍgajātrāmā hāmile garnu parne pūjāvidhi saṃkalpa timile garnu timrā śeṣapachi timrā santānale garnu. Apart from this, the dvāre is given the duty to report to the king the annual oracular forecast the dhāmī of the place makes. There is a document extant from VS 1976 (1919 CE) in which the current dvāre, Candrakumāra Sāhi announces his presence in the annual jātrā of VS 1976 (Vajrācāryā and Śreṣṭha VS 2032: appendix pp. 119–120, doc. 97). The khaḍgajātrā during Dasaĩ is also listed among the festivals to be performed at the Bhairavī temple (ibid.: appendix pp. 120, doc. 98). [⇑]

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.
dasaĩ / daśaĩ	[fr. S. daśāha] var. dasai; n. festival to worship the goddess Durgā as slayer of the buffalo demon, held over the bright half of the autumn month of Āśvina (baḍā dasaĩ) and, on a smaller scale, over the bright half of the spring month of Caitra (caite dasaĩ).
dasaĩghara	var. dasaighara; n. lit. "house for dasaĩ;" ritual arena for worshipping the goddess Durgā on the occasion of dasaĩ, either in a room or building exclusively used for this purpose (see K_0625_0039), or temporarily erected within another building.
dhāmī	n. oracle medium, possessed by and acting as a lineage or territorial deity (see Shrestha-Schipper 2009@BJ); could be "appointed by the State in some Tarai and inner Tarai districts to look after the people and keep the gods satisfied. Their main function was to check the depredations of wild animals, particularly tigers" (M.C. Regmi 1970 (No. 6): 148 ; cf. M.C. Regmi 1978: 226; Krauskopff and Meyer 2000: 183).
dvāre	var. dvāryā, duvāryā; n. 1) a local revenue collection official (e.g. M.R. Pant 2002: 132; M.C. Regmi 1970: 149) who can arrest offenders and try petty cases (Stiller 1981: 379). 2) a gatekeeper at the royal palace who collects certain levies (Edwards 1975: 106; M.C. Regmi 1978: 226); 3) a village headman in the Kathmandu Valley (M.C. Regmi 1970: 149).
ghaḍerī	var. ghaḍyāri, gharyāḍī; n. a plot of land for erecting a building, category of land suitable for bulding houses.
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).
guṭhiyāra	var. guṭhīyāra, guṭhiāra, guṭhīāra; n. member of a guṭhī, trustee, functionary responsible for the administration and management of guṭhīs (M.C. Regmi 1978: 708–711).
jāgira	var. jāgīra; n. "lands, homesteads, villages and other sources of revenue assigned to government employees as remuneration for their services" (M.C. Regmi 1999: 136).
jaisīkoṭhā	n. an office usually considered to be a branch of the office treating with foreign affairs (Munsīkhānā) dealing with the foreign correspondencies to Tibet (see e.g. Kumar 1967: 166; Parājulī et al. 1995: s.v.). Adhikari, however, argues that the terms Munsīkhānā and Jaisīkoṭhā were used simultaneously to denote the same office (Adhikari 1984: 83-84). He assumes that the former refered to a location within Basantapur Palace while the latter denoted the office operated from there. That the Jaisīkoṭhā did not exclusively handle paper work related to the north is also evinced in a book of copies of 303 lālamoharas documented from K_0028_0032 (front cover and index) up to K_0031_0014B. These royal orders concern affairs of different guṭhīs both within the Kathmandu Valley and outside.
kheta	[fr. S. kṣetra] var. khet, kheṭ; n. 1) irrigated land in the hill region suitable for the cultivation of rice and wheat. 2) a measure of land in the hill region equal to 25 ropanīs or 100 murīs (ca. 1.25 hectares) (M.C. Regmi 1999: 136-137 ; cf. M.C. Regmi 1999: 234 ; M.C. Regmi 1978: 162 ; M.C. Regmi 1978: 227 ; M.C. Regmi 1978: 860 ; M.C. Regmi 1995: 77; Adhikari 1984: 351; M.R. Pant 2002: 133; Whelpton 1991: 284 ).
lālamohara	var. lālmohara, lālamohar, lālmohora; abbreviated mohara; n. royal document bearing the red seal.
muri / murī	n. 1) also khetamuri; unit of land measurement in the hill region, comprising 1/4 ropanī with 100 muris in 1 kheta. The area varied according to the grade: 1190 sq. ft. for lands of the best grade, and 1339 sq. ft., 1487 sq. ft., and 1785 sq. ft. for lands of inferior grades. 2) volumetric unit comprising 20 pāthis (with 8 mānas to a pāthi), equivalent to 90.919 (M.R. Pant 2002: 134 ) or 87.23 (Pant and Pierce 1989: 93) liters. (M.C. Regmi 1978: 163; M.C. Regmi 1999: 235 ; M.C. Regmi 1978a: 228 ; M.C. Regmi 1978b: 862 ; Adhikari 1984: 354; M.C. Regmi 1988: 269).
ropanī	[fr. S.] var. ropani; n. unit of land measurement in the hill region, including the Kathmandu Valley, comprising four murīs. The area may vary according to the grade, but current standard area for a ropanī comprises 5,476 square feet (cf. M.C. Regmi 1999: 235 ; M.C. Regmi 1978: 864; Whelpton 1991: 286; M.C. Regmi 1995: 77; M.C. Regmi 1978: 163; M.C. Regmi 1988: 270).
saṃkalpa	[S.] n. ritual declaration, ritual commitment.
tapasila	[fr. A.] var. tapasīl, tapasīlā, tapsīl; n. particulars, details; can be a self-sustained document, but is more often appended as a list after the narratio of documents.

Bibliography

Gutschow, Niels. 2011. Architecture of the Newars: A History of Building Typologies and Details in Nepal (3 Volumes). Chicago: Serindia Publications.
Vajrācārya, Dhanavajra and Ṭekabahādura Śreṣṭha. VS 2032. Nuvākoṭako aitihāsika rūparekhā. Kathmandu: CNAS, Tribhuvan University.
Zotter, Astrid. 2016. "State Rituals in a Secular State? Replacing the Nepalese King in the Pacali Bhairava Sword Procession and Other Rituals." In: Religion, Secularism, and Ethnicity in Contemporary Nepal, edited by David N. Gellner; Sondra L. Hausner; Chiara Letizia, 265-301. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.