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 Jotirāja Śreṣṭha ordering that the haṇḍī of a departing Vairāgī ascetic at Kālamocanaghāṭa be terminated (VS 1944)

ID: K_0583_0074

Edited and translated by Christof Zotter
Created: 2024-11-13; Last modified: 2025-02-14
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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, 2025. 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 Jotirāja Śreṣṭha to terminate the daily food supply (sīdhā haṇḍā) of a named ascetic who had left the Vairāgī akhāḍā at the Kālamocanaghāṭa, Thāpāthalī.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1⟪27⟫

1ह्स्तेह्स्तेट्टाडि[?]हर्षवाहादुर•

1स्वस्तिश्रीथापाथलिगुठिवन्दोवस्तअस्य•विसेठ्‌डिठाजोतिराजश्रेष्ठकेपुर्जिउप्रातथापाथलि
2कालमोचन्‌वैरागिअषडामहंतजयरामदास्‌काअषडामारह्याका•दरवंदिकासाधु१[...]क्‌•रमता
3महंत•पुस्करदास्‌साधु१साल्‌४४साल्‌जेष्टसुदि१०रोजदेषिअषडाछोडि•जादानिजका
4सिधाहंडावंदभयाकोछवंदगर्न्याकामगरइतिसम्वत्‌१९४४साल्‌जेष्टसुदि१०रोज४[?]

Translation

[In the left margin:]

271

Through (haste) [Diṭṭhā?]2 Harṣa Bāhādura

[Main text:]

Hail! [This is] a purjī of [the section in charge of the account-books (bahībujhnyā) of?]3 the Thāpāthalī (text: Thāpāthali) Guṭhī Bandobasta [Aḍḍā] to Biseṭa Diṭṭhā Jotirāja Śreṣṭha.

Uprānta: Since 1 sādhu [who] stayed in the akhāḍā of Jayarāmadās, the mahanta [of] the Vairāgīakhāḍā at Kālamocana[ghāṭa], Thāpāthalī, [and who was] 1 sādhu of the registered contingent (darabandī), [namely] the wandering (ramatā) Mahanta Puskaradās, is leaving the akhāḍā on [Wednes]day, the 10th of the bright half of Jeṣṭha in the [Vikrama era] year [19]44, the 1 daily food supply (sīdhā haṇḍā 4 ) of the said [sādhu] has stopped. Perform the task of determinating [these food supplies].

Wednesday, the 10th of the bright half of Jeṣṭha in the [Vikrama] era year 1944 (1887 CE). 5 [Auspiciousness.]

Notes

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

2. As in a few other documents of the batch (see e.g. K_0584_0005: hāḍī), the word before the name Harṣa Bāhādura remains cryptic here. However, in most documents mentioning this name the title is give as ḍiṭṭhā (see among others K_0584_0011, K_0584_0012, K_0584_0016 and K_0584_0018). [⇑]

3. This and the following emendation is based on parallel passages in similar documents (see, among others, K_0583_0075). [⇑]

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

5. The date corresponds to 1 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)
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.
vairāgī / bairāgī	[S. vairāgin] var. bairagi; a vaiṣṇava ascetic, religious devotee (cf. Turner 1931: s.v. bairagi); specific. a member of the Rāmānandī order