Documenta Nepalica

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

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A purjī from the Dolakhā Māla to the Guṭhī Bandobasta re an officer who failed to send standing crops from the Bhīmeśvara–Tripurāsundarī Guṭhī (VS 1972)

ID: K_0132_0027

Edited and translated by Ramhari Timalsina
Created: 2021-02-17; Last modified: 2021-07-22
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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. 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 written from the Dolakhā Māla to the Guṭhī Bandobasta of Śrī 5 Sarkāra supplying information about an officer fined over his failure to send standing crops from the Bhīmeśvara–Tripurāsundarī Guṭhī.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

श्री\

1नं५५

1[Seal of Dolakhā Māla with legend:] श्री दोल्षा माल् १९६४

1दोल्षामालवाटश्री५सर्कारतर्फगुठीवन्दोवस्तके
2पुर्जी
3ऊप्रान्तभीमेस्वरत्रीपुरासुंदरीकागुठीको६९साल्देषी७१सालतक्
4वर्ष३कोवालीआजसम्मअसुलगरीनपटाय़ाकोहुनालेतेसमाल्का
5हाकींकारींदालाईरु१जरीवानागरीपटाय़ाकोछभनीतेसअडावाटजरीवा
6नागरीपटायाकोहुनालेरपोट्जाहेरगरीपटाय़ामाहाकींलेकुंमीती
7माअडामावाहोलगरेकोहोस्वमीतीसमेतषोलीवाहालीसनदकोनक
8लसमेतगासीजाहेरगर्नुभनीफीर्तापटाय़ाकाहुनालेअडाकावाहाल
9गरेकोमीतीरवाहालिसनदकोनकलसमेतगासीपटाय़ाकोछसम्वत
10१९७२सालफागुण१९गतेरोज४शुभम् ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

1[Seal of Govindamāna with legend:] श्री गोवि[?]

1[Seal of Govindamāna with legend:] श्री गोविन्दमान

1[Unknown seal with legend:] श्री सिद्धीनरसिं १९६६

Translation

[1r]

Śrī

No. 551

[Seal of the Dolakhā Māla with legend:] Śrī Dolṣā Māl 1964

A purjī from the Dolakhā Māla to the Guṭhī Bandobasta of Śrī 5 Sarkāra

Uprānta: When your (lit. “that”) office sent [us] a letter stating: “Since the bālī of the Bhīmeśvara–Tripurāsundarī guṭhī [due] in the [last] 3 years from [VS 19]69 to [VS 19]71 has not been collected and sent up to today, the hākima and kārindā of this [Dolakhā Māla] office are fined 1 rupee”, we sent a report in clarification. The letter was returned, asking [us] further to submit [a report] specifying the date when the hākima was appointed to his post and to attach a copy of his appointment letter (sanada). Therefore, we are sending [herewith] the date of appointment and attaching a copy of the appointment letter.

Wednesday, the 19th solar day of Phāguṇa in the [Vikrama era] year 1972. Auspiciousness.

[Seal of Govindamāna with legend:] Śrī Govindamāna

[Unknown seal with legend:] Śrī Siddhīnarasiṃ 1966

Commentary

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

Notes

1. These numerals by a second hand were probably added when documents were either sorted or, more likely, when they were microfilmed. [⇑]

Glossary

Word	Notes
bālī	var. bāli; n. 1) standing crops. 2) rent to be payed by tenants on standing crops. 3) produce of land enjoyed by the soldiery as their emoluments under the jāgīra land tenure system (cf. Adhikari 1984: 345).
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).
hākima	[H. fr. A.] var. hākim, hākīm; n. chief of an administrative unit, government office or court (Adhikari 1984: 349; Kumar 1967: 165; Michael 2012: 131; M.C. Regmi 2002: 299).
kārindā	[fr. P. kāranda] var. kārīṃdā, kārīndā; n. clerk or low-ranking official.
mālapota aḍḍā	var. māla aḍḍā, mālapota, māla; n. land revenue office where records of land ownership and transference are kept.
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.
sanada	var. sanad; n. a regulation, order, decree or certificate of appointment, esp. from the prime minister (prāimaminisṭara yaṇḍa kamyāṇḍara ina cipha) or the commander-in-chief general (kamyāṇḍara ina cipha janarala); "government orders" (Karmacharya 2001: 327).
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.