Documenta Nepalica

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

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An inscription recording the production of five silver plates for the daśakarma of Buṅgadyaḥ (VS 1886)

ID: NHDP_0001_0146

Edited and translated by Simon Cubelic in collaboration with Rabi Acharya and Pabitra Bajracharya
Created: 2023-02-15; Last modified: 2023-08-23
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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, 2023. The image(s) on which this edition is based on is/are published under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY-SA 4.0) and the copyright lies with NHDP. All use of the digital facsimiles requires prior written permission by the copyright holder. See Terms of Use.
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Abstract

This inscription, engraved on a silver plate, records the production of a total of five such plates for the daśakarma of Buṅgadyaḥ, the price for which was paid by temple revenue. It further records the officials who witnessed the production process and the amount of silver lost in the course of production.

Diplomatic edition

[1]

1⟅स्वस्तिश्रीसम्वत्‌१८८६सालवैसाषवदि१३श्री३मच्छिन्द्रनाथकाआम्दनिलेदसकर्म्मकाभोजनकेचांदिकोथाल५कोचांदिटोला५९७पटनाटव़लतस्कोमोलमोहररुपैञा७२२॥मार्फत्‌श्रीजनरलसाहेव:चिताईदारडिट्ठाहाक्याकटुव़ाल:ङाषाचुक:ईषारषु:काविसेतवसिवनाया:वनायाकौजरतिग⟪या⟫कौचादितौरा८॥यथारकसेरेरौभगल्या:पंचमाहापातकरागरालागलासुभं॥

Translation

[1r]

Hail! On the 13th of the bright fortnight of Vaiśākha in the glorious Vikrama era year 1886 5 silver plates—[made by melting down] 597 tolās of silver one-rupee coins from the Patna [mint] with a value of 722|| mohararupaiyā̀̀s—for the feast during daśakarma were produced from the revenue of the thrice glorious Matsyendranātha with the approval (mārphata) of the venerable General sāheba 1 in the presence of the citāīdāra, ḌiṭṭhāHākyā Kaṭuvāla2 [of the Matsyendranātha temple] and the biseṭs of Ṅākhācuka and Īkhārakhu. In the production process, 8|| tolās of silver were lost. Whoever acts out of greed for these plates will incur [punishment for] the five great sins (pañcamahāpātaka). Auspiciousness.

Commentary

According to Owens 1989, Buṅgadyaḥ undergoes two separate daśakarmapūjās: At the beginning of the first one, with the Nyekhu painters, the spirit of the deity is retransferred from a jar into the renovated image (Owens 1989, 210). The second one is carried out by pānjus two days later without the retransferral of the deity's spirit (Owens 1989, 216). According to Owens's documentation of the daśakarmapūjā involving the Nyekhus, food is offered to Buṅgadyaḥ on several occasions (Owens 1989, 211–12). During the annaprāśana (first rice-feeding), the deity is fed from five trays with cooked rice and other food, among it a portion of the right jaw of the skull of a buffalo offered to Hayagrīva the evening before (Owens 1989, 212). The five plates mentioned in this inscription very probably refer to the five trays of the type observed by Owens. However, the five plates were produced on the occasion of the second daśakarmapūjā (with the pānjus), which takes place on the 13th of the bright fortnight of Vaiśākha (see Locke 1980, 264)—the same date recorded on the inscription. Since Hākyā Kaṭuvāla is the only person mentioned in the inscription, one may assume that he was either instrumental in ordering the plates or wanted to claim the prestige associated with it mainly for himself. The inscription was previously published in Koirālā VS 2052, 1063.

Notes

1. This refers probably to General Bhīmasena Thāpā. [⇑]

2. In VS 1883 Hākyā Kaṭuvāla was entrusted with the overseership of the Luthāma Guṭhī in service to Buṅgadyaḥ (see K_0015_0031E). [⇑]

Glossary

Word	Notes
biseṭa	var. biseṭ, viseṭ, viseṭa, besata; n. 1) a temple steward (cf. M.C. Regmi 1978: 855) or a person responsible for administering a religious institution. 2) an official responsible for accountancy of temple trusts, as e.g. of the Paśupatinātha Bhaṇḍāra (Michaels 1994: 158-161). Michaels renders the term as "viśeṣ" and relates the different spellings attested to Skt. viśeṣa (ibd.: 160 n. 138). As the earliest reference quoted goes back to the Malla period (NS 794) and renders the term as beseta (G. Vajrācārya 1966: 23) it seems more likely that the term comes from Newari and is a variant of New. besata/byaṣṭa, "messenger" (cp. Malla et al. 2000: s.v.).
citāīdāra	[N.] n. caretaker, manager. The documents referred to by M. C. Regmi in which the term occurs indicate that it is often used for persons entrusted with the oversight or managment of temples (M. C. Regmi 1971 (No. 2): 80; M. C. Regmi 1972 (No. 4): 130), guṭhīs (M. C. Regmi 1988 (No. 6-7): 76) or crown land (Regmi 1976 (No. 2): 36).
daśakarma	[S.] n. lit. "the ten rituals". In Newar Buddhism a set of ten life-cycle rituals used to consecrate or reconsecrate a holy image. The ten rites consist of: 1) jātakarma (birth purification) 2) nāmakaraṇa (name giving) 3) phalaprāśana (feeding fruits) 4) annaprāśana (first rice feeding) 5) cūḍākaraṇa (first head-shaving) 6) vratādeśa (beginning learning) 7) upanayana (loincloth worship/monastic initiation) 8) vratamokṣaṇa (removing monk's robe) 9) pāṇigrahaṇa (marriage) 10) prāṇapratiṣṭhā (the actual consecration of the image) (see Locke 1980: 210-18; Gellner 1992: 198-99).
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).
mārphat / mārphata	var. marphaṭ, mārphaṭa; “through (the person of)“ (Pant and Pierce 1989: 93).
mohararupaiyā̃	var. mohararupaiyām, mohararūpaiyā, moharaṭaṃkā (New.); often abbreviated as moru, morū, moharu, moharū, moharru, mohorru; n. monetary unit based on and equivalent to two eight-anna silver coins (moharas); in calculations usually broken down into four sukās, 16 ānās or 64 paisās (cf. Pant and Pierce 1989: 93) or 256 dāmas; the exchange ratio with paisās was calculated differently at different times and in different parts of the kingdom, depending on the relative values of silver and copper, ranging between 52 and 80 paisās (Regmi 1982: 73). In documents sums are represented in four numerical fractions, with the rupaiyā represented by numbers; the sukās by one to three daṇḍas or the avagraha sign representing zero; the ānās by one to three diagonal dashes, sometimes as a loop with two or three jags; the paisās again by daṇḍas or numbers; the dāmas by numbers or horizontal dashes.
nyekhu	[New.] var. nikhu, niyekhu; n. A Śreṣṭha sub-group who carry out the painting of the image of Buṅgadyaḥ (Toffin 1995: 241).
pañcamahāpātaka	[S.] n. five grave sins or offenses causing loss of caste, enumerated as: killing a Brahmin, drinking intoxicating liquor, theft, committing adultery with the wife of one's teacher or elder, and associating with anyone guilty of these crimes (Manusmṛti 11.257) (Olivelle 2015: 315).
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).
sāheba / sāhaba	[fr. A. sāhib] n. 1) word to respectfully address a high-ranking person, sir. 2) master.
tolā	n. a unit of weight and standard measure for gold and silver comprising of 100 or 96 rati, 10 or 12 māsās and being 1/80th of a sera; the actual weight differed according to place and time, as weight of the Bombay or Sicca Rupee between 11.599–11.642; as standardised in 1833 in British India as 180 troy grains (11.663 8038 grams).

Bibliography

Koirālā, Kulacandra. VS 2052. Śrīmatsyendranātha. Kāṭhamāḍauṁ: Guṭhī Saṃsthāna.
Locke, John K. 1980. Karunamaya. The Cult of Avalokitesvara Matsyendranath in the Valley of Nepal. Kathmandu. Kathmandu: Sahayogi Prakashan/Centre for Nepal and Asian Studies, Tribhuvan University.
Owens, Bruce McCoy. 1989. The Politics of Divinity in the Kathmandu Valley: The Festival of Bungadya/Rato Matsyendranath. New York: Columbia University.