Documenta Nepalica

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

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A letter from the Gośvārā of East no. 2 to the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā regarding a record of expenses of the Bhīmeśvara and Tripurasundarī guṭhī (VS 1915)

ID: K_0165_0013

Edited and translated by Ramhari Timalsina
Created: 2021-06-07; Last modified: 2021-09-27
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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. All use of the digital facsimiles requires prior written permission by the copyright holder. See Terms of Use.
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Abstract

This is a letter from the Gośvārā of East no. 2 to the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā stating that it could not be determined whether a record of expenses of the Bhīmeśvara and Tripurasundarī guṭhī had been prepared or not.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1[...]

1पुःगो[...]

[Unknown seal]

[Seal of Siddhi Bāhādura with legend: श्रीसिद्धिवाहादुर8.9.६७]

[Unknown seal]

1पुर्व२नंम्वरगोश्वारावाटश्री५सर्कारतर्फ
2गुठीवंन्दोवस्तअडालाईलेषेको
3उप्रांन्तश्रीभिमेश्वरश्रीत्रपुरासुंदरीकोगुठीविसये़गुठीयारमालअडा
4स्मेत्वुझ्नुपरेवुझषर्चकोअघिलगत्भये़नभये़कोवुझीपठाऊनेकांगरभंन्यातेस
5अडाकापुर्जिताकितीवमोजिंमचंरीकोट्जंगी•परेट्वाटनजिकचाडैकांतामे
6लहुनेदेषीनालेसोजंगीपरेट्लाईपुर्जिगरीवुझीय़ाकोमालगत्भय़ानभय़ा
7कोकुराथाहाछैनभंन्यास्मेत्वेहोराकोऊच्येथामीस्मेत्१३जनाले
8मुचुल्कालेषीदीय़ाकोरमालअडावुझ्नुपर्नेकारंपनीस्ववुझीयाकोमु
9चुल्कावाटरतेसअडाकापूर्जिवाटस्मेतकेहीनदेषीनालेसोसक्कलैमुचुल्
10कायेसैसाथगरिपठायाकोछदाषीलहोलासंवत्१९७२सालपौष१०गते
11शुभम् ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

Translation

[1r]

Śrī

Puḥ go1 2

[Unknown seal]

[Seal of Siddhi Bāhādura with legend: Śrī Siddhi Bāhādura 8.9.67]

[Unknown seal]

[A letter] written from the Gośvārā of Pūrva 2 Naṃbar (East no. 2) to the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā of Śrī 5 Sarkāra

Uprānta: Regarding the guṭhī of the glorious Bhīmeśvara (text: Bhimeśvara) [and] the glorious Tripurasundarī (text: Trapurāsuṃdarī), your (lit. ‘that’) office sent us a purjī stating: “Send us [notice] whether a record of expenses has been prepared or not. If you even need to question guṭhī members and the Māla Aḍḍā in order to find out, do so.” In keeping with its urgency, it appeared that the task could be accomplished quickly with the help of the nearby Caṃrīkoṭ 2 Jaṃgī Pareṭ, so we wrote a purjī to the military parade [grounds, but it replied with] muculkās written by Ucye Thāmi and 13 other persons making clear that it is not known [to them] whether a record of expenses has been prepared or not. The Māla Aḍḍā also needed to be questioned. However, nothing has come to light from the muculkās submitted or from a purjī of that [Māla] Aḍḍā. The original muculkās are attached to this letter. You will [doubtless] receive [them].

The 10th day of the Pauṣa in the [Vikrama] era year 1972 (1915 CE). Auspiciousness.

Commentary

The temples of Bhīmeśvara and Tripurāsundarī, mentioned in this document to which the guṭhī is related, are located in Dolakha, toward the east of Charikot Bazaar.

Notes

1. Probably this is an abbreviation of Pūrva Gośvārā (Gośvārā in the eastern part of Nepal). [⇑]

2. Lit. ‘Caṃrīkoṭ’ military parade [grounds]’. Nowadays, the place is called simply Charīkoṭ. [⇑]

Glossary

Word	Notes
gosvārā	[fr. A. gośavārā] var. gośvārā; n. 1) belonging to a single group or being an integral part of, common to several, joint. 2) chief, main, of the first level (gosvārā hulāka, gosvārā lagata, etc.). 3) an administrative office of a baḍāhākima that looks after the security affairs of the whole district during olden times (Parājulī 2010: 339).
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).
Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā	var. Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍā; n. "Guthi Administration Office", office responsible for the management of guṭhīs; established under Jaṅga Bahādura Rāṇā in 1852-1853 as replacement of the former Guṭhī Kacaharī. Its foundation marks the change from the guṭhīyāri system of the guṭhī management to the contractor based system; remained the central office to coordinate all offices subsequently established for handling different aspects of guṭhī management, including the Guṭhī Kharca Aḍḍā and others. Separate Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍās managed the śrī 5 sarkāra guṭhīs and the śrī 3 sarkāra guṭhīs (cf. M.C. Regmi 1978: 713-715).
māla aḍḍā	n. a district-level revenue office; see also māla .
muculkā / mucalakā	var. mucalakā; n. a witnessed written statement.
purjī	[fr. P. purja] var. purji, pūrjī; n. 1) slip of paper, note. 2) formal letter written by a government institution or an official to another institution or to a person.
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 5 sarkāra	lit. "five-times venerable ruler"; commonly used to refer to the Śāha king (cp. Whelpton 2005: 266) and often indistinctively to his government (Lecomte-Tilouine 2015).
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.