Documenta Nepalica

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

Version with DOI and citation guidelines

A letter from Deva Śamśera Jaṅga Bahādura Rāṇā emancipating seven slaves belonging to Jyedu Kumāra Paṇḍita (VS 1955)

ID: K_0614_0023

Edited and translated by Manik Bajracarya in collaboration with Yogesh Budathoki
Created: 2018-09-28; Last modified: 2019-04-01
For the metadata of the document, click here

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 letter, Deva Śamśera Jaṅga Bahādura Rāṇā emancipates four female and three male slaves after writing off part of their master's debt by the amount they would have been sold for in an auction.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

[...]

1श्रीआर्ज्या
2१

1श्री३सर्कार
2२

183

1स्वस्तिश्रीमद्राजकुमारकुमारात्मजश्रीकम्यांडर‌ईनचीफ्‌जनरलदेवसम्सेरजङ्गराणावहादुरकस्यपत्रम्¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
2आगेकासीकमारिकेयथोचीत्‌ऊप्रान्त¯ ¯१¯घाट्पारीसतीमुर्दादाहागर्न्यादाऊरा१।गुठीमादरियाकाका
3गतीगाऊस्मेत्‌३गाऊको५२/५३साल्माठेक्‌ईजारालीन्यासोहीथाऊकोवल्‌भद्रषत्रिक्षेत्रीकोधन्‌ज्मा
4नीलेफ्टेन्‌ज्यदुकुमारपंडीत्‌लेवाकीमध्येमेराघरैयाकमाराकमारीलीलाम्‌वीक्रीगरीनगदपारी
5भर्नागरीवक्सेमअनाथब्राह्मणकोदुषछुट्दोहोजोमर्जीहुकुम्‌भनीतीम्राषस्‌म्‌नीजलेफ्‌टे
6न्‌ज्यदुकुमारपंडीतलेहाम्राहजुरमावीन्तीपार्दाजाहेरभैतीमीलाईथापाथली¯ ¯२¯तर्फगुठीवक्यौ
7तातहसील्‌अडामार्फत्‌झीकाईहामीवाटनजरगरीवक्सीतीम्रावर्ष१७काज्यू१कोअघिज्यूमा
8सीयाकाजात्का१६लंम्वरकाऐन्‌वमोजीम्‌कोमोल्‌मोहरू१२०तीम्राषस्मधन्‌जमानीलेफ्टे
9न्‌ज्यदुकुमारपंडीत्‌लाईठेक्‌वाकीमध्येमीन्हादीतीमीलाईअम्लेषकोदस्षत्‌गरीवक्स्यौहाम्रो
10जयमनाईआफुषुसीअम्लेषभैवस्नेकाम्‌गर१९५५साल्‌मीती६आश्वीणवदी३राज१शुभ्म्

[table1]

1	अरूवेहोरासदर	स्यतीकमरिवर्ष२१कोमोल्‌रू१२०अरूवेहोरासदरको¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯	१
2	अरूवेहोरासदर	हर्षेकमारोवर्ष४५कोमोलरू४५अरूवेहोरासदरको¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯	१
3	ऐं¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯	जमुनीकमारीवर्ष४२कोमोलरू६०अरूऐं¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯	१
4	ऐं¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯	स्यतेकमारोवर्ष८कोमोलरू४१।अरूऐं¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯	१
5	ऐं¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯	कालेकमारोवर्ष१२कोमोल्‌रू४१।अरूऐं¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯	१
6	ऐं¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯	वुद्धलक्ष्मीकमारीवर्ष२कोमोल्‌रू२५अरूऐं¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯	१

Translation

[1r]

Śrī

Śrī Āryā[ghāṭa]1 - 1

Śrī 3 Sarkāra - 2

832

Hail! A letter of the venerable Commander-in-Chief General Deva Śamśera Jaṅga Rāṇā Bahādura, a venerable prince born of a prince.

Āge: To the female slave Kāsī.

Yathocita uprānta: It became known to us when your master, Lieutenant Jyadu Kumāra Paṇḍita,3 who is standing surety (dhana jamānī) for Balabhadra Khatrī Chetrī [of Kāgati Gāũ]—who had obtained a contract to collect revenue (ṭheka ijārā) for the years [VS 19]52/53 from 3 villages including Kāgati Gāũ that are registered under the Dāurā Guṭhī which cremates the bodies of satīs [at the place] located opposite [Āryaghāṭa]4 —made petition to us, saying: "[If Your Majesty] could turn my household slaves into cash by auctioning them off and thereby [helping to] offset an amount due, the suffering of this helpless Brahmin would go away. Your wish is my command." After the Guṭhī Bakyautā Tahasila Aḍḍā of Thāpāthalī, [which operates] under [Śrī 3 Sarkāra]5 , produced you [in front of us] and we examined you, the price—according to [Section] 16 of the [article on] Enslaved Castes (jyū māsiyākā jātakā) in the Ain—of 1 17-years-old body of yours, 120 mohararupaiyās, has been cancelled for your master, the bondsman Lieutenant Jyedu Kumāra, from the amount due on the contractual payment (ṭheka). For you we have signed [a deed] of emancipation. Celebrate our victories and, having been emancipated, live as you wish.

Sunday, the 3rd of the dark fortnight of Āśvina in the year [VS] 1955 (1898 CE). Auspiciousness.

[table1]

Other details are valid	Female slave Syatī, aged 21, price: 120 rupees; other details are valid	1
Other details are valid	Male slave Harṣe, aged 45, price: 45 rupees; other details are valid	1
ditto	Female slave Jamunī, price 42, cost: 60 rupees; ditto	1
ditto	Male slave Syate, aged 8, price: 41 rupees and 1 sukā; ditto	1
ditto	Male slave Kāle, aged 12, price: 41 rupees and 1 sukā; ditto	1
ditto	Female slave Buddha Lakṣmī, aged 2, price: 25 rupees; ditto	1

Commentary

This is a written order from Deva Śamśera Jaṅga Bahādura Rāṇā emancipating seven slaves belonging to Jyedu Kumāra Paṇḍita, who had intended to have them auctioned off in order to pay a sum owed to the guṭhī revenue department. For an earlier related document, see K_0614_0021.

Notes

1. Āryaghāṭa, a cremation site at Pashupati in Kathmandu. [⇑]

2. This number represents a running count of documents copied in the ledger. [⇑]

3. In document K_0614_0021, his name is spelled as Jyedu Kumāra Paṇḍita. [⇑]

4. Inserted from the space numbered 1 above. [⇑]

5. Inserted from the space numbered 2 above. [⇑]

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.
ain	var. āin, aina; n. 1) laws, statutes, rules, regulations enacted by authority 2) law-code of Nepal, first promulgated in 1854 during the rule of Jaṅga Bahādura Rāṇā and amended several times before it was completely revised in VS 2022. The revised law-code was renamed as Mulukī Ain.
Bakyautā Tahasila Aḍḍā	var. Vakyautā Tahasīla Aḍa, Vakyautā Aḍā; n. offices established to collect revenue on taxable lands. Prior to their establishment in 1860s, collection of such revenue was done traditionally by village headmen and other non-official functionaries (cf. Regmi RRS 11 (2): 18-19).
mohararupaiyā̃	var. mohararupaiyām, mohararūpaiyā, moharaṭaṃkā (New.); often abbreviated as moru, morū, moharu, moharū, moharru, mohorru; n. monetary unit based on and equivalent to two eight-anna silver coins (moharas); in calculations usually broken down into four sukās, 16 ānās or 64 paisās (cf. Pant and Pierce 1989: 93) or 256 dāmas; the exchange ratio with paisās was calculated differently at different times and in different parts of the kingdom, depending on the relative values of silver and copper, ranging between 52 and 80 paisās (Regmi 1982: 73). In documents sums are represented in four numerical fractions, with the rupaiyā represented by numbers; the sukās by one to three daṇḍas or the avagraha sign representing zero; the ānās by one to three diagonal dashes, sometimes as a loop with two or three jags; the paisās again by daṇḍas or numbers; the dāmas by numbers or horizontal dashes.
satī	n. 1.) widow, concubine or female slave who follows her deceased husband or master into death by immolating herself either on her husband's or master's fire, or on a separate funeral pyre. 2.) the ritual of self-immolation.
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.
śrī 3 sarkāra	lit. "three-times venerable ruler"; title used by the Rāṇā prime ministers (cp. Whelpton 2005: 266).
sukā	var. sukī; n. monetary unit worth one fourth of a rupee, i.e. half of a silver mohara, and comprising four ānās; in documents the second of the four usual monetary fractions of the system based on the rupee, usually represented by either the avagraha-shaped sign for zero or one to three daṇḍas.
uprānta	var. uprāṃta, ūprāṃnta, ūprā̃nta, prāṃta; also yathocita uprānta; conj. after that, besides, in addition to, hereafter. In earlier prose and official documents, this word marked the beginning of a text or paragraph. It has no equivalent in English (Clark 1989: 231). In some (mostly Rāṇā period?) documents, it takes the form of yathocita uprānta.