Documenta Nepalica

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

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A copy of a lālamohara from King Gīrvāṇayuddha appointing Narmaḍeśvara Jaisī Arjyāla as priest at Gorkhā's Upallokoṭa (VS 1864)

ID: K_0029_0025A

Edited and translated by Astrid Zotter
Created: 2017-08-15; Last modified: 2023-02-17
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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, 2018. 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

Abstract

This copy of a lālamohara from the king, who according to the date must have been Gīrvāṇayuddha, Narmaḍeśvara Jaisī Arjyāla is appointed as priest at Gorkhā's Upallokoṭa, replacing Vaijanātha Arjyāla. The specialist is ordered to perform the Dasaĩ rituals and enjoy the endowed lands as mānā cāmala.

Diplomatic edition

[1r]

||८१||

1⟪३५नं⟫

1⟪जैसीकोठाअडावाट
2सकलवमोजिंनकलदुरुस्तछ⟫

[Seal of the Jaisīkoṭhā]

[Unknown seal]

1६[?]भाद्रसुदी८रोज५मा
2आगेनर्मडेश्वर•जैसीअर्ज्यालकेवैजनाथअर्ज्यालकोषायेल
3गोर्षाउपल्लोकोट्‌•कोप्रोहित्याईवक्स्यौ•परंपराकारीतसीतदसै
4गरीतस्कोमानाचावलहाम्राजयेमनाईभोग्‍यगरइतीमीति
5सडर------------------------१

Translation

[1r]

[In the upper left corner:]

[p.] 811

[In the left margin:]

No. 352

From the Jaisīkoṭhā office:

The copy is true to the original.

[Main text:]

[Seal of the Jaisīkoṭhā]

[Unknown seal]

Thursday, the 8th of the bright fortnight of Bhādra in [the Vikrama era year 18]64 (1807 CE).3

Āge: To Narmaḍeśvara Jaisī Arjyāla

We [hereby] confer [upon you] Vaijanātha Arjyāla's holdings (khāyela) [that go along with] the office of priest (purohityāī̃) at Gorkhā's Upallokoṭ. Perform the Dasaĩ [rituals] according to what has been traditionally established; enjoy its [attached land as] mānā cāmala, celebrating our triumphs.

The date is confirmed.

Commentary

The document has been microfilmed twice; the second time as K_0334_0050.

A document issued in VS 1862 (1805 CE), two years before the present document, appoints Vaijanātha Josī to perform the Dasaĩ rituals at Gorkha Upallokoṭa (K_0029_0044A). This is probably the same person who is called Vaijanātha Arjyāla in the present document, where duties are shifted from him to Narmaḍeśvara. The office of priest at the "upper fort" on a hilltop above the royal palace of Gorkha seems to have been one reassigned fairly regularly to new persons, or else rotated among a fixed group. For more on this case and follow-up documents, see the edition of K_0029_0044A.

It is interesting to note that the family name of the specialist in question is given as Josī in the earlier and Arjyāla in the later document. Josī or Jaisī Arjyālas are traditionally among the Brahmins serving the Śāhas of Gorkha and their deities. Narmaḍeśvara Jaisī Arjyāla, to whom the present document is addressed, provides another example of this.

Notes

1. This is the page number of the assemblage of lālamohara texts copied from the Jaisīkoṭhā. The bound material, microfilmed sequentially from K_0028_0032 (front cover and index) up to K_0031_0014B, covers the main body (i.e. excluding the initial and final formalities) of 303 royal documents from the period VS 1847–1864 concerning different guṭhīs. [⇑]

2. The number refers to the position of the document in the bound volume (cf. previous note). [⇑]

3. The year of issue given in this line is partially illegible, owing to overlying stamped marks. My conjecture follows the catalogue card. This finds confirmation in the further particulars of the date given, which corresponds to Thursday, 9 October 1807. In the index of the book (K_0028_0032, exposure 6) this and the following text are listed under the year VS 1856. In that year, however, the 8th of the bright fortnight of Bhadra fell on a Saturday. [⇑]

Glossary

Word	Notes
āge	[fr. S. agre] adv. lit. "henceforeward" (Riccardi 1976: 150 n. 6), especially used in administrative and legal documents to mark the beginning of a text or paragraph. In its function it is similar to uprānta.
dasaĩ / daśaĩ	[fr. S. daśāha] var. dasai; n. festival to worship the goddess Durgā as slayer of the buffalo demon, held over the bright half of the autumn month of Āśvina (baḍā dasaĩ) and, on a smaller scale, over the bright half of the spring month of Caitra (caite dasaĩ).
guṭha / guṭhi / guṭhī	[fr. S. goṣṭhī] var. guṭh, guthi; n. 1) a socio-religious organization that manages and finances religious and charitable functions, a trust. 2) “endowed lands or other sources of revenue for financing religious and charitable functions“ (M.R. Pant 2002: 132; cf. M.C. Regmi 1988: 267).
jaisīkoṭhā	n. an office usually considered to be a branch of the office treating with foreign affairs (Munsīkhānā) dealing with the foreign correspondencies to Tibet (see e.g. Kumar 1967: 166; Parājulī et al. 1995: s.v.). Adhikari, however, argues that the terms Munsīkhānā and Jaisīkoṭhā were used simultaneously to denote the same office (Adhikari 1984: 83-84). He assumes that the former refered to a location within Basantapur Palace while the latter denoted the office operated from there. That the Jaisīkoṭhā did not exclusively handle paper work related to the north is also evinced in a book of copies of 303 lālamoharas documented from K_0028_0032 (front cover and index) up to K_0031_0014B. These royal orders concern affairs of different guṭhīs both within the Kathmandu Valley and outside.
lālamohara	var. lālmohara, lālamohar, lālmohora; abbreviated mohara; n. royal document bearing the red seal.
mānā cāmala	var. mānā cāvala; n. a land grant given to a bhārādāra or a high ranking officer in order to provide him with daily supplies of food, under the condition that it turns into the state-owned (raikara) land upon his death; also known as khuvā-birtā.
purohityāī̃	var. purohiṭāī, purohītyāñī, prohityāī, prohītāī; n. the office of priest.