Edited and
translated by Simon Cubelic
in collaboration with
Rabi Acharya and Pabitra Bajracharya
Created: 2023-02-16;
Last modified: 2023-08-29
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[1r]
1⟅शुभ॥सम्वत९७१म्तिचैत्रशुदि१५रोजथ्वकुन्हुश्री३करूनामयया[1r]
Auspiciousness. On the 15th of the bright fortnight of Caitra in the [Nepāla era] year 971—on that day—this silver wash pot (text: dvāvala)1 for the bath of the thrice glorious Karuṇāmaya was made with the approval (mārphat) of DiṭṭhāDhija Nālāṃ and the biseṭs of Ṅākhācu and Ikhālukhu with money from the sale of the harvest. Including a loss of 3 tolās of silver [during the production process], [a total of] 236 tolās of silver [were] required. Auspiciousness.
This object is one of several silver vessels used in the context of the bathing ceremony (New. naḥvaṃ, Skt. mahāsnāna) of Buṅgadyaḥ which takes place on the first day of the dark fortnight of Vaiśākha (Locke 1980, 262–65; Owens 1989, 201–04). One is the so-called brahmakõ (Skt. jīvaghaṭa), a jar into which, during the kalaśapūjā at Taḥ Bāhāḥ, the spirit of the deity is transferred while the image is being brought to Lagankhel for bathing (see NHDP_0001_0139). Others are four small silver pots into which nāgas are invoked during the same pūjā (Owens 1989, 201). They are brought to the bathing platform at Lagankhel by Nyekhus. From these silver pots water to which pañcāmṛta is added is poured on the image. The pot on which this inscription is engraved is placed at the bottom of the image as a receptacle for some of the bath water. The Pānjus and Nyekhus on the platform use this water to sprinkle on spectators of the ritual as a form of blessing (Owens 1989, 202). An edition of this inscription is published in Koirālā VS 2052, 64.