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 ordering the termination of a haṇḍī for an Udāsī ascetic at Kālamocanaghāṭa (VS 1944)

ID: K_0584_0011

Edited and translated by Christof Zotter
Created: 2024-10-09; Last modified: 2024-12-05
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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 to terminate the daily food supply (sīdhā haṇḍā) of a named ascetic who left the Udāsī akhāḍā at Kālamocanaghāṭa.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1⟪39⟫

1ह्स्तेदिठाहर्षवाहादुर

1स्वस्तिश्रीथापाथलीगुठीवन्दोवस्तवहीवुझ्‌न्याअडाकस्यविसेट्‌डिठाजोतिराजकेपुर्जिउप्रान्त
2थापाथलीकालमोचन्‌घाट्‌उदासिअषडामहन्तमाधौदास्‌कोअषडामासावीक्‌दर
3वंदीठेकीयाकासाधुमध्येअषडाछोडीज्या⟪कृपाराम⟫[?]⟪सा⟫धुजना१कोसीधाहंडा१साल४४जेष्ट
4वदि८रोज७देषीवंदभयाकोछवंदगर्न्याकामगरइतिसम्वत्‌१९४४सालमिति
5आषडसुदि४रोज७शुभ्म्‌¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯ ¯¯¯¯¯¯

Translation

[In the left margin:]

391

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.

Uprānta: The daily food supply (sīdhā haṇḍā 2 ) of 1 sādhu among the sādhus assigned to the previous registered contingent (darabandī) in the akhāḍā of Mahanta Mādhaudāsa of the Udāsīakhāḍā at Kālamocanaghāṭa, Thāpāthalī—Kṛparāma who left the akhāḍā—stopped on Saturday, the 8th of the dark half of Jeṣṭha in the [Vikrama era] year [19]44.3 Perform the task of terminating [this food supply].

Saturday, the 4th of the bright half of Āṣāḍa in the [Vikrama] era year 1944 (1887 CE).4 Auspiciousness.

Commentary

An ascetic called Kṛparāma is also mentioned some months earlier as the recipient of the daily food supply (see K_0583_0050). If he is the same person, he seems to have been a regular visitor to the Udāsī akhāḍā.

Given the usually immediate reaction of the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā in similar cases, it is surprising that in the present case the interval between the departure of the ascetic and the order to Jotirāja to terminate the food supply is more than a month in the present case.

Notes

1. For 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 14 (Saturday) or 15 (Sunday) May 1887. [⇑]

4. The date corresponds to 25 June 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;
mahanta	[S.] var. mahaṃta; n. the temporal and spiritual head of a centre (āśrama, maṭha, sthāna, akhāḍā) or wandering group (khālsā) of an ascetic order (cf. Burghart 1976: 100); an abbot.
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)
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.