An inscription on a silver jar recording the vessel's replacement by Juddha Śamśera (VS 1990)
ID: NHDP_0001_0148
Edited and
translated by Simon Cubelic
in collaboration with
Pabitra Bajracharya
Created: 2023-02-23;
Last modified: 2023-08-29
For the metadata of the document, click here
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 inscription, engraved on the lip of a silver jar referred to as tārāghaṭa, records that the original object, donated by King Viṣṇu Malla in 1730/31, was damaged as a result of the 1934 earthquake and that Prime Minister Juddha Śamśera sponsored its replacement.Diplomatic edition
[1r]
1ने.सम्वत्८५१सालमाश्रीजयेविष्नुमल्लले1 चढाईराषेकोताराघट१९९०सालमाघ२गते२कादिनठुलोभूकंम्पभैमंदिरस्मेतभत्कीविग्रेकोलेश्री३माहाराजजुद्धसम्सेर्जङ्गवाहादुरराणावाटअ2र्कोचांदिथपिजिर्नउद्वारगरि१९९०सालचैत्र१८गतेमा2 चढाईवक्सेकोतोला3
Translation
[1r]
On Monday, the 2nd of Māgha in the [Vikrama era] year 1990 during the big earthquake the Tārā jar (tārāghaṭa) commissioned and offered by the venerable Jaya Viṣṇu Malla in the Nepāla era year 851 became unusable when the temple collapsed, wherefore on the 18th of Caitra in the [Vikrama era] year 1990 the thrice venerable Mahārāja Juddha Śamśera Jaṅga Bahādura Rāṇā added more silver and sponsored its replacement.
Commentary
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). During the kalaśapūjā at Taḥ Bāhāḥ the spirit of the deity is transferred into a large jar called brahmakõ (Skt. jīvaghaṭa) (see NHDP_0001_0139) before the image is taken to Lagankhel for bathing. Additionally, eight smaller silver pots of water with which this object is associated are consecrated during the ceremony (Locke 1980, 262). The accounts of J. Locke and B. Owens differ with respect to these vessels. Whereas according to Locke 1980, 262, only two vessels are brought to the bathing platform, Owens 1989, 202, notes four. The two authors also differ as to the deities invoked into the vessels during the kalaśapūjā. According to Locke 1980, 262, secret protective deities are invoked into the six remaining jars, which are placed together with the brahmakõ in the temple at Taḥ Bāhāḥ. He does not specify if the same type of deities are invoked into the jars taken to Lagankhel. Owens only reports about those vessels carried to Lagankhel, arguing that they house nāgas (Owens 1989, 201). Neither author, however, refers to the designation tārāghaṭa (lit. "Tārā jar"), another potential marker of the deity's identity, found on the three objects documented by NHDP. The role of the deity Tārā in this context is unclear. According to T. T. Lewis 1989, 118, Tārā is considered as an embodiment of Avalokiteśvara's compassion and appears in 21 forms. The former fact might help to explain the connection to Buṅgadyaḥ, who is identified with Karuṇāmaya/Avalokiteśvara; the latter the deity's being present in several vessels at the same time. In Koirālā VS 2052, 59, two different versions of the inscription text on the eight vessels are recorded. In the first one the designation tārāghaṭa occurs, but in the second one it is omitted. This might indicate a difference between the four vessels remaining in Taḥ Bāhāḥ and the four vessels taken to Lagankhel, but this hypothesis can only be confirmed through more thorough documentation. Like the brahmakõ, the present vessels were destroyed during the 1934 earthquake and their replacement sponsored by Juddha Śamśera two months later, right in time for the upcoming festival.