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PCVAM_0001_0012

Documenta Nepalica

Documents on the History of Religion and Law of Pre-modern Nepal
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Inscription recording the repair of the monastery house wall and the paving of the Vaṃ Bāhāḥ premises by Punyarāma and his wife (NS 856)

ID: PCVAM_0001_0012


Edited by Nutandhar Sharma in collaboration with Pabitra Bajracharya and Rajendra Shakya
Created: 2023-03-14; Last modified: 2026-02-19
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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 CCby-SA.

Abstract

A stone inscription positioned to the right of Mahākāla, in the passage of the digicheṃ of Vaṃ Bāhāḥ, records that Punyarāma Citrakāra and his wife repaired the decayed wall of the monastery house (bāhāragṛha) and paved both the inner and outer premises of the bāhāḥ with oiled bricks. The inscription further states that they performed a fire sacrifice.


Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1᠀ओम­नमो­वौद्धाय­||श्रैयोऽस्तु­||सम्वत्‌­८५६­शावणमासे­कृष्ण­
2पक्षे­ˎचतुर्थ्यान्तिथौ­ˎउत्तराभाद्रनक्षेत्रे­शूलयोगे­ˎवृहस्पतिवा
3सरे­ˎथ्वकुन्हु­देयलं­वाहारगृह­ˎचैत्रकाल­पुन्येराम­थुंनच­भार्य्या­
4लचनामयि­च­नेह्म­स्त्री­पुरुखन­ˎश्री­वंथवाहार­श्रीमत्‌­श्री­२­क्वा
5चपाल­भट्टारकसके­ˎजलं­अंङ­चेकन­अतन­दङाव­ˎवाहालसं­
6वाहारपिवने­चेकन­अतन­चिङाव­यज्ञ­याङन­प्रतिस्था­याङा­
7दिन­जुरो­ˎथ्व­वाहालसं­ˎपिवने­लसं­सुनानं­कि[...]­ताङन­से
8नकल­भा[...]­गोव्राम्हणादि­पञ्चमहापातक­लाक­जुरो­ˎभिन
9कल­सा­उतोत्त्र­जुरो­||यथा­शास्त्रोक्त­फलमस्तु­||शुभ­||
10ॐ­श्री­देवरथनजु­थरपा­ˎˎथोतीया­चिन्ता­याक­
11श्री­देवजोतीजु­जुरो­ˎˎशुभ­

Synopsis

Puṇyarāma Citrakāra and his wife Lacanāmayi repaired the decayed wall of the monastery house (bāhāragṛha) with oiled bricks (cekana atana) on the fourth day of the dark fortnight of the lunar month of Śrāvaṇa, a Thursday, under the constellation Uttarabhāra and the conjunction Śula, in NS 856 (1736 CE). They also paved the inner and outer premises of the monastery with oiled bricks and performed a fire sacrifice (yajña).

The inscription declares that whoever harms this bāhāla by, for example, tying an elephant in the outer lane, will incur the five great sins, including the killing of a cow. Conversely, those who perform good deeds may attain the goals described in the śāstras (scriptural texts). The act was carried out during the tenure of the thavarapā (senior monk of the saṃgha) Devarathana and was supervised by Devajoti.


Commentary

The edition and synopsis presented here are revised from the printed version published in Basukala et al. 2022: 183 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.17885/heiup.1116). For documentation of this inscription and Vaṃ Bāhāḥ in the DANAM database, see https://danam.cats.uni-heidelberg.de/report/d2578f40-cfce-4450-a8c1-3092c08ef487.

Notes