Documenta Nepalica

Documents on the History of Religion and Law of Pre-modern Nepal
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A lālamohara from King Rājendra reconfirming the exemption of Guruṅs, Ghales and Lāmās from legal restrictions relating to aputālī, cākacakuī and pharneulo (VS 1885)

ID: DNA_0012_0053


Edited and translated by Christof Zotter
Created: 2017-07-17; Last modified: 2020-11-17
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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, 2020. 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

This lālamohara of King Rājendra, addressing Guruṅs, Ghales and Lāmās throughout the realm, sanctions a thiti bandeja through a copperplate, according to which the addressees are granted an exemption from payment of cākacakuī and pharneulo fines, the state acquisition of aputālī, and enslavement as punishment for other offences. It is furthermore specified that lāmās and ghyābriṅs can be employed as necessary, but that Brahmanical rituals shall be conducted by Upādhyā Brahmins.



Diplomatic edition

[1r]

1श्री­दुर्गा­\

1श्री­५­वुवाज्यु­

[royal seal]

1स्वस्ति­श्रीगिरिराजचक्रचुडामणिनरनाराय़णेत्यादि
2[...]विरुदावलीविराजमानमानोन्नत्‌श्रीमन्महा
3[?]जाधिराजश्रीश्रीश्रीमहाराजराजेन्द्रविक्रमसाहव•
4[?]दुरसम्सेरजङ्गदेवानाँ­सदा­समरविजयिनाम्­¯ ¯ ¯
5आगे­हाम्रा­भर­मुलुकका­•गुरुं­घले­लामा­गैर्‍हके­¯ ¯
6¯ ¯ ¯वाट­अपुताली­चाकचकुई­माफ­गरिवक्सनु­
7[...]को­रहेछ­आज­हामीवाट­पनि­तिमिहरूका­अघि
8देषी­चलीआयाको­रितिथिति­अपुताली­चाकचकुई­•
9फर्नेउलो­हाम्रा­दर्वारमा­पस्याका­पसुईव़ाहेक­माफ­
10[...]रि­•लामा­घ्याव्रिंले­गर्नु­पार्न्या­काम­लामा­घ्याव्रिंवाट­
11[...]राउनु­व्राह्मणवाट­गराउनु­पार्न्या­काम­उपाध्या­व्राह्म•
12णवाट­गराउनु­औ­विराव़­माफिकका­षतमा­डंड­सा
13[...]­[...]र्नु­जिय­नमासनु­भनि­थिति­वंदेज­वाँधि­ताम्वा•
14पत्र­गरिवक्स्यौं­ईति­संवत्‌­१८८५­साल­मिति­चैत्र­वदि­१०­
15रोज­२­शुभम्­¯¯ ¯¯ ¯¯ ¯¯ ¯¯

Translation

[1r]

Śrī Durgā

Fivefold Venerable Father

[royal seal]

Hail! [A decree] of him who is shining with manifold rows of eulogy [such as] ‘The venerable crest-jewel of the multitude of mountain kings’ and Naranārāyaṇa (an epithet of Kṛṣṇa) etc., high in honour, the venerable supreme king of great kings, the thrice venerable great king, Rājendra Vikrama Śāha, the brave swordsman, the divine king always triumphant in war.

Āge: To Guruṅs, Ghales, Lāmās etc. throughout our realm

[You] were granted by [our] ----1 an exemption from [the state aquisition of] escheatable property (aputālī) and [the payment of] fines for illicit intracommunal sexual relations (cākacakuī).2 Today we, too, have issued a copperplate sanctioning the [following] custom (thiti bandejabā̃dhi): "In line with the customary practice of your households since earlier times,3 [all of you]—except for pasuīs 4 who enter our palace (darabāra)— are exempted from [the state aquisition of] escheatable property (aputālī) [and fines relating] cākacakuī5 and pharneulo.6 As for rituals (kāma) that need to be conducted by lāmās and ghyābriṅs, let lāmās and ghyābriṅs conduct them, but rituals that need to be conducted by Brahmins shall be conducted by Upādhyā Brahmins.7 Moreover (au), as punishment for [other] wrongdoing (birāva), [the authorities] shall punish [you] according to the infringements, [but you] are not to be enslaved."

Monday,8 the 10th of the dark fortnight of Caitra [of the Vikrama] era year 1885 (1829 CE).9


Commentary

Another edition of this lālamohara, based on a photograph of a copy kept in the Lagata Phā̃ṭa (cf. Fezas 1986: 172) and containing a number of graphic variants (such as aputāli for aputālī or birāu for birāva), is available in Fezas 1986: 174. The document is also mentioned in the Appendix "Royal decrees concerning the Gurung" in Pignède 1993: 491, where a number of other edicts relating to cākacakuī, aputālī and Guruṅ priests are summarized. It is an altered version of a copperplate promulgated on Vaiśākha śudi 10 VS 1883 (DNA_0014_0022), from which it differs (ignoring the common orthographic variants) mainly in the removal of the words cārajāta and sorhajāta from the list of addressees (for further details, see Commentary in DNA_0014_0022).

On similar arrangements made for other ethnic groups, see Commentary in DNA_0013_0069.

Notes

1. Here "Fivefold Venerable Father" (i.e. King Gīrvāṇayuddha), written at the left side of the blank space above the main text, is to be added. [⇑]

2. In order to reproduce the sense of sudden realization implied by the inflectional form rahecha (a second perfect tense of the verb rahanu ) one could begin the translation of the sentence with: "We have come to learn that ..." (cf. note 4 in K_0469_0008). The exemption from pharneulo fines (see below) is mentioned here, as in an earlier document (DNA_0014_0022) about the same set of issues. [⇑]

3. The reference to the "customary practice ... since earlier times" (aghidekhī calīāyāko ritithiti) is a standard feature in this kind of document. As other edicts using this phrase show, some issues associated with the traditional custom actually were subject to continued debate and repeated alternation (cf. Commentary in DNA_0014_0022). [⇑]

4. For a discussion of the unclear meaning of pasuī, see note 2 in DNA_0013_0069 and note 7 in DNA_0014_0022. [⇑]

5. I.e. fines for such intracommunal sexual relations as remarriage that, although customarily practised among many ethnic groups in the Himalayan region, were considered illicit by the Śāha administration because they were in direct contravention to the promoted Hindu ideal of marriage as a sacrament constituting a bond unbreakable until death and beyond (see note 2 in DNA_0013_0069). [⇑]

6. According to Fezas (1986), the word (elsewhere written jhārneulo [ibid.]), which also occurs in the orthographic variants pharnyāulo (see DNA_0014_0028) and pharnyāūlo (see DNA_0014_0022) but is always given as phārneulo by Fezas (ibid.: 173, 174 and 175), may mean—like the word hāḍphorā (for hāḍaphorā) used in another document (see DNA_0013_0069)—incestuous sexual relations (Fezas 1986: 173). However, in the document Fezas (1986: 173) refers to, DNA_0013_0069, hāḍphorā belongs—unlike pharneulo here and in other documents (see e.g. DNA_0014_0028; Fezas, in his edition of this document addressing the Magaras, overlooks the word māpha and therefore assumes that pharneulo is to be punished [1986: 173] and not pardoned)—to the category of offences that are punished by fines, but not by enslavement (see below). [⇑]

7. Lāmās, priests of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and ghyābriṅs (also know as ghyāpriṅas), who follow the local ‘shamanic’ tradition, are ritual specialists customarily employed by the Guruṅs. For further details, see note 8 and the Commentary in DNA_0014_0022. [⇑]

8. Fezas (1986: 174) gives the weekday as roj 3, i.e. Tuesday. [⇑]

9. If the date is given—as is usual in documents of the Śāha period— according to the pūrṇāntamāna system (i.e. the lunar month starts with the dark fortnight), it corresponds to 30 March 1829, which was indeed a Monday, as specified in the eschatocol. Fezas in his edition not only has a different weekday (see note 8) but also converts the year wrongly, as "1827 A.D." (1986: 175). [⇑]