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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 CCby-SA.

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⟫

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

[table1]

1नुव़ाकोट्‌को­डमकीतार­मुरी­•५०­चर्कुष्णा­मुरी­२०­
2रातमाघा­मुरी­२०­डाङमै­मुरी­१०­
3त्री•वैनी­मुरी­५०­नीलीवोक­धर्‍याडीं­रोपनी­११­
4ज्मा­षेट­१­

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] Ḍamakītāra2 in Nuvākoṭ, murīs50 [at] Carkuṣṇa,3 murīs 20
2[at] Rātamāghā,4 murīs20 [at] Ḍāṅamai,5 murīs10
3[at] Trīvainī,6 murīs50[at] Nīlīvoka,7 plot for erecting a building (ghaḍerī), ropanīs11
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. []

6. K_0002_0002C has the same spelling. []

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). []