Documenta Nepalica

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

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A copy of a document informing the head priest of Matsyendranātha that he is being dispatched to Bhoṭa and cautioning other priests of the community not to interrupt the ritual worship of the deity (VS 1872)

ID: K_0630_0067

Edited and translated by Manik Bajracharya and Rajendra Shakya
Created: 2022-10-25; Last modified: 2023-08-07
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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, 2022. 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 document of which it is a copy, addressed to the main priest of the deity Matsyendranātha, informs him that he is being dispatched to Bhoṭa. It also instructs other priests in the community not to neglect the ritual worship of the deity while he is away.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1पो१२व९पा११९मी७२२
2१२२

1पुजहारि

1भं.नौहर्ष

1हे.नौ.राम

[seal with the legend: श्री टोपबाहादुर]

1आगे∙नाय़क∙पानिजुलाई∙श्रीमछीन्द्रनाथ∙कापुजामापस्याकोरहेछ∙आज
2केहिकामले∙भोटपथाऊनुपर्‍योर∙भोलिवतीसवाडाभित्रकोमाकसैलेहरहे
3माइतगरी∙पुजामाकचवचपार्‍यो∙भन्यातसलाई∙भारी∙डंदसासना
4पर्ला∙ईतिसंवत१८७२साल∙पौषवडी१२⟪१२⟫रोज४सुभं¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯

Translation

[1r]

Po. 12 va 9 pā 119 mī 7221

1222

The priest

bhaṃ. nau.3 Harṣa

he. nau.4 Rāma.

[seal with the legend: Śrī Ṭopa Bāhādura]

Āge: To the head pāniju [priest].

You have, I see, taken on the responsibility for ritual services to glorious Matsyendranātha (text: Machīndranātha). Today you need to be dispatched to Bhoṭa on some business. If anyone within the thirty-two bā̃ḍā (text: vāḍā) priests5 hinders the ritual services with prejudice, he will be subject to heavy punishments.

Wednesday, the 12th of the dark fortnight of Pauṣa in the [Vikrama] era year 1872 (1815 CE). Auspiciousness.

Commentary

This document, addressed to the head of the pāniju priests of [the deity] Matsyendranātha, informs the addresee that he is to be dispatched to Bhoṭa. It mentions neither the addresee's name nor the purpose of his mission. Regarding the place name Bhoṭa, it may, even though it is generally understood to mean Tibet, also refer to the northern areas in Nepal with a strong Tibetan cultural presence.6 The document further warns the remaining members of the community of 32 pānijus not to obstruct the ritual services to Matsyendranātha while the head is away.

Another microfilm of this document can be found under the identification number K_0015_0004B.

Notes

1. This is the shelf mark for the current document at the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā. [⇑]

2. This is the serial number of the current document within the bundle. [⇑]

3. The abbreviation bhaṃ. probably stands for bhaṃne ("one who reads out") and nau. for nausindā, a low-ranking office clerk. It may thus be understood that this person read out loud the original to another person, who either wrote it down or who rechecked the copied document. [⇑]

4. This abbreviation probably stands for herne nausindā ("a nausindā who watches"), that is, a clerk who checks the copied document. [⇑]

5. The 32 bā̃ḍās here are the community (saṅgha) of pāniju priests responsible for carrying out rituals to Buṅgadyaḥ. In fact, the saṅgha consists of only 31 members, with the 32nd member being Buṅgadyo himself, also known as Śrī. [⇑]

6. Ramble 2004: 391 states: "'Bhot' in turn derives from the Tibetan word 'Bod', meaning Tibet, via the late Sanskrit 'Bhotaḥ'. In Nepal, 'Bhot' was traditionally used not only for the Tibetan state but also of ethnically Tibetan areas that the Gorkha conquest had brought within the boundaries of the new Kingdom." [⇑]

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.
bā̃ḍā	[fr. Skt. vandya] var. bāḍā, vāḍā; n. generic term commonly used by non-Newars to refer to the two highest Buddhist Newar sub-castes, the Śākya and Vajrācārya, who traditionally work as goldsmiths amongst others; the Mulukī Ain groups them below the Śreṣṭhas (MA-54 145.8).
Bhoṭa	n. Tibet; in Nepal, the term denotes not only Tibet, but also the areas that are ethnically Tibetan (cf. Gellner et al. 2004: 391).
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).
pānju	var. pāniju, pāneju, pānijyu; n. 1) the attending priest of Buṅgadyo (Matsyendranātha). 2) one of thirty one Vajrācāryas and Śākyas of the saṅgha at Buṅgamatī who are entitled to serve as attendants to Buṅgadyo (Owens 1989: 408).