Documenta Nepalica

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

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Copy of a purjī from the Thāpāthalī Guṭhī Bandobasta Bahī Bujhnyā Aḍḍā to Biseṭa Diṭṭhā Jotīrāja Śreṣṭha ordering the termination of haṇḍīs for three Udāsī ascetics at Kālamocanaghāṭa (VS 1944)

ID: K_0583_0060

Edited and translated by Christof Zotter
Created: 2024-10-09; Last modified: 2024-12-06
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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, 2024. 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 the purjī of which the present document is a copy, the Thāpāthalī Guṭhī Bandobasta Bahī Bujhnyā Aḍḍā instructs Biseṭa Diṭṭhā Jotīrāja Śreṣṭha to terminate the daily food supplies (sīdhā haṇḍā) of three named ascetics who left the Udāsī akhāḍā [at Kālamocanaghāṭa in] Thāpāthalī.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1⟪13.⟫

1ह्स्तेदिठाहर्षवहादुर

1स्वस्तिश्रीथापाथलिगुठीवन्दोवस्तवहीवुझ्‌न्याअडाकस्यविसेट्‌डिठाजोतिराजश्रेष्टकेपुर्जिउप्रान्त
2थापाथलिउदासीअषडामासावीकदरवंदिठेकीयाकासाधुमध्येअषडाछोडीजा•
3न्यातपसीलकासाधुजना३कोसीधाहंडा३साल४४कावैसाषसुदि१३रोज६देष[...]
4वंदभयाकोछवंदगर्न्याकामगर¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
5तपसिल

[table]

कासीराम¯¯¯¯¯¯	१को	¯¯¯¯¯¯१
सुकदास्‌¯¯¯¯¯¯	१को	¯¯¯¯¯¯१
मानदास्‌¯¯¯¯¯¯	१को	¯¯¯¯¯¯१
		३

6इतिसम्वत्‌१९४४सालमितिवैसाषसुदि१३रोज६शुभ्म्‌¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯

Translation

[In the left margin:]

131

Through (haste) Diṭṭhā Harṣa Bahādura

[Main text:]

Hail! [This is] a purjī from [the section of] the Thāpāthalī (text: Thāpāthali) Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā that is in charge of account books (bahībujhnyā) to Biseṭa Diṭṭhā Jotīrāja Śreṣṭha (text: Jotirāja Śreṣṭa).

Uprānta: Since the 3 sādhus in the details [below], who were among the sādhus assigned to the previous registered contingent (darabandī) in the Udāsī akhāḍā [at Kālamocanaghāṭa,] Thāpāthalī, left the akhāḍā, their 3 daily food supplies (sīdhā haṇḍā 2 ) have stopped as of Friday, the 13th of the bright half of Vaiśākha in the [Vikrama] era year [19]44. Perform the task of determinating [these food supplies].

Details (tapasila):

[table1]

	[daily food supply] of Kāsīrāma 1	1
	[daily food supply] of Sukadās 1	1
	[daily food supply] of Mānadās 1	1
		3

Friday, the 13th of the bright half of Vaiśākha in the [Vikrama] era year 1944 (1887 CE). 3 Auspiciousness.

Notes

1. Concerning this running number, see K_0583_0048 note 1. [⇑]

2. Like e.g. K_0583_0050, the present document uses the word haṇḍā (text:haṃḍā) instead of haṇḍī, the more common term for "alms". [⇑]

3. The date corresponds either to 5 (Thursday) or 6 (Friday) May 1887. [⇑]

Glossary

Word	Notes
akhāḍā	[fr. S. akṣavāṭa-] var. akhaḍā. n. lit. "wrestling ground", military station of ascetics; organised group of fighting ascetics. akhāḍās are found e.g. in the traditions of the Śaiva Daśanāmī, the Vaiṣṇava Vairāgī and the Sikh affiliated Udāsī (Clark 2012).
bahī	var. vahi; n. ledger or account-book for account keeping (see K_00175_0018 for the stages of account keeping). To what stage of account keeping it exactly refers remains unclear.
biseṭa diṭṭhā	[biseṭa + diṭṭhā] var. viseṭ diṭhā; a post related to management and accountancy of temples and akhāḍās in the Thāpāthalī area.
darabandī	[P.] var. daravaṃdī, daravaṃdi; n. a designated position with a fixed salary for operating a government or non-government office; determination of the required number of staff (cf. Parājulī et al VS 2067: s.v.); #a register of alms recipients#
ḍiṭṭhā	var. ḍīṭṭhā, ḍiṭhā; a civil servant ranking above a mukhiyā and lower than a subbā (cf. Stiller 1981: 379). According to Edwards 1975: 107, ḍiṭṭhās originally had been the judges who presided over the courts in Kathmandu but later could serve in a number of other offices (such as the kausī, the hāttīsāra or the sadara daphtarakhānā; see also Kumar 1967: 165; M.C. Regmi 1978: 226). The Mulukī Ain distinguishes three categories of the ḍiṭṭhās; the jaṅgī kote ḍiṭṭhā (probably, combatant personnel), the lājimā ḍiṭṭhā and the ḍiṭṭhā in charge of Elephant or horse stable or cowshed (MA-54.31.11).
Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā	var. Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍā, Guṭhi 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).
haṇḍā	var. haṃḍā; n. a large pot made of metal or clay; cauldron. Used in some documents instead of haṇḍī (alms).
haṇḍī	[H.] var. haṇḍi; 1) n. an earthen pot. 2) an earthen pot to give alms mainly regularly by the government or other institution to ascetics, students, poor people etc. 3) alms regularly given by the government or another institution to ascetics, student etc., consisting of a “quantity of rice, lentils, vegetables, spices, salt, etc., given as a dole for a full meal.“ (M.C. Regmi 1978: 859)
haste	[fr. S. hasta] adv. care of; through;
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.
sādhu	[S.] n. lit. "the good one", a holy man, an ascetic; a righteous person. See also sādhu santa
sidhā	n. 1) uncooked food. 2) a plate of uncooked rice, lentils, vegetables, salt, turmeric powder and ghee, etc. given to a Brahmin priest by his patron during a ritual or sacrifice. 3) food provision regularly given by the government or another institution to servants, poor people, ascetics, students, prisoners etc., consisting mainly of a “quantity of rice, lentils, vegetables, spices, salt, etc., given as a dole for a full meal.“ (M.C. Regmi 1978: 859)
tapasila	[fr. A.] var. tapasīl, tapasīlā, tapsīl; n. particulars, details; can be a self-sustained document, but is more often appended as a list after the narratio of documents.
udāsī	[S. udāsin-, lit. "one who is detached, indifferent"] var. udāsi; n. 1) ascetic affiliated to the Sikh tradition.
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.