Documenta Nepalica

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

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A copy of a lālamohara from King Rājendra allocating sums to Dhanavanta and Dhijavanta Kuhmāl for supplying earthen cooking vessels for the Tripureśvara Sadāvarta Guṭhī (VS 1877)

ID: K_0015_0018A

Edited and translated by Marija Grujovska
Created: 2023-11-28; Last modified: 2024-06-13
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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

This lālamohara allocates 30 rupees each to Dhanavanta Kuhmāl and Dhijavanta Kuhmāl for supplying earthen cooking vessels for operating the sadāvartaguṭhi of Tripureśvara temple in Kathmandu.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1पो५४व१५पा५३४सी ९०१
2१८१
3सदावर्तकाकुह्माल्के
4भंनौहर्ष
5हेनौवासु

1आगेसहर्‌काठमादौँज्याथाटोलकोधनवन्तकुह्माल्‌•१•धिजवन्तकुह्माल्‌
2१जमाजना•२केश्रीत्रिपुरेश्वरकास्था[?]नका•सदावर्तमाचाहिदोहाडी•
3भांडापुर्‍याउनुजना१के•दर्माहारुपैञा३०कादरलेजना२के•ज्मारुपै
4ञा६०सालींन्तासदावर्तकागुठिया़रछेउ•लिनु•औईदुई•जनाकाघरमा•
5झारावेठवेगारमाफगरि•वक्स्यौंखातीर•ज्मासगचाहीदोहडीभाडापुर्या
6ईदर्माहालिभोग्य़गर•⟪हाडा⟫भाडानपुर्याया़सासनाहोला•ईतीसंव[?][?]
7१८७७सालफागुणवदी•५रोज५शुभ्म्

Translation

[1r]

[In the left margin:]

Bundle (po[kā]) 54 va 15 pā 534 sī 901

181

Concerning potters of the sadāvarta

The one who said [was] the nau[sindā]Harṣa.

The one who watched [was] the nau[sīndā] Bāsu.

[Main text:]

Āge: to 1 Dhanavanta Kuhmāl [and] 1 Dhijavanta Kuhmāl (a total of 2 persons) from Jyāthā Ṭola [in] Kathmandu. Supply earthen cooking vessels needed for the sadāvarta of Tripureśvara temple. Take the wage of rupaiñās 30 per person (a total of rupaiñās 60 for two persons) annually from the guṭhiyāra of the sadāvarta. Moreover, we exempt these two persons' households from jhārā, beṭha and begāra corvée. Supply the necessary earthen cooking vessels unfailingly, take the wages and enjoy [them]. Failing to supply the needed earthen pots will result in punishment.

Thursday, the 5th of the dark fortnight of Phālguna4 in the [Vikrama era] year 1877 (CE 1821). 5 Auspiciousness.

Commentary

The present lālamohara concerning the sadāvartaguṭhi of Tripureśvara temple in Kathmandu established by Lalitatripurasundarī in VS 1877 (CE 1821) appoints Dhanavanta Kuhmāl and Dhijavanta Kuhmāl to supply the temple with earthen cooking vessels, which were probably to be used to prepare food distributed as alms. The emolument for the service was an annual wage of 30 rupees.

Notes

1. While the first abbreviation, po, probably stands for pokā ("bundle") it remains unclear what words the following va, pā and sī are abbreviations of. That these indeed are abbreviations is clear from preceding entries, where the same syllables are followed by a dot. [⇑]

2. This number refers to the place of the document in the government ledger. [⇑]

3. The abbreviation he stands for herne and bhaṃ (in the line above) for bhanne. Nau is probably an abbreviation for nausindā and is followed by the names of the clerks involved in copying the documents or in checking whether copies were true to originals. [⇑]

4. The original text reads Phāguṇā. [⇑]

5. The reigning king in whose name the original lālamohara must have been issued was Rājendra. [⇑]

Glossary

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.
beṭha	[fr. S. viṣṭi] var. beṭh, beṭhi; n. usually written together with 'begāra'; compulsory labour; unpaid labour esp. for farms (cf. R. Shaha 1990/vol.1: 207); exaction of unpaid labour on a customary basis in the hill region, usually for agricultural work (cf. M.C. Regmi 1965: 53, Michael 2012: 130).
beṭha / beṭhī	[fr. S. viṣṭi] var. beṭhi; n. usually written together with another term 'begāra'; 1) A type of unfree labour, generally employed in farms on a customary basis (cf. R. Shaha 1990/vol.1: 207, M.C. Regmi 1965: 53). 2) a tax levied on homesteads in the hill region; the commuted value of beṭha labor (M.C. Regmi 1978: 854). 3) a festival in the planting season (Parājulī et al. VS 2052: s.v.).
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).
guṭhiyāra	var. guṭhīyāra, guṭhiāra, guṭhīāra; n. member of a guṭhī, trustee, functionary responsible for the administration and management of guṭhīs (M.C. Regmi 1978: 708–711).
jhārā	n. forced labor, unpaid work or assistance exacted from the people by the government or a landlord for the cause of the state or public welfare; can also be commuted into cash payment (M.R. Pant 2002: 133; M.C. Regmi 1988: 267).
lālamohara	var. lālmohara, lālamohar, lālmohora; abbreviated mohara; n. royal document bearing the red seal.
nausindā	n. a scribe or a clerk of lower rank responsible of translating, registry and accounts; “They were the lowest rank of scribes. There were more personnel in this rank than in any other within the "civilian" hierarchy (and excluding the sipahis). A considerable number of them worked in the offices of registry and accounts. Nausindas registered the papers which came in and left the offices and copied letters and documents.“ (Edwards 1975: 109 ; cf. M.C. Regmi 1978: 228 ; Adhikari 1984: 354 ; Kumar 1967: 167 )
rupaiyā̃	var. rupaiñā; abbr. ru; n. rupee.
sadābarta	[S. sadāvrata] var. sadāvartta, sadāvarta, sadābartta; n. 1) regular distribution of alms or food to mendicants, guests, pilgrims or the poor (cp. Adhikari 1984: 356). 2) a kitchen where raw or cooked food is supplied to these groups (cp. M.C. Regmi 1978b: 864). 3) a charitable foundation for the provision of food to poor, mendicants and pilgrims (cp. M.C. Regmi 2002: 302).