Accounts of ascetics interacting with rulers have been a popular motif of legends and hagiographies down through the centuries. As religious and moral authorities, ascetics may chastise unjust kings, but more often than not they entertained good relations with worldly powers. Documentary material can help to substantiate how such symbiotic collaborations cane into being and how bureaucratization entered the relations between ascetics and the state.
Ascetics, wielders of otherworldly powers, advise kings in matters both spiritual and political, bless royals and their actions (family affairs, diplomacy, war campaigns etc.). In return, they may be granted enormous material wealth in the form of donations or else land for building temples or monasteries centred on the worship of their tutelary deities, the maintenance and ritual costs being covered in part by the produce of the land. Gifts allowed ascetics to establish institutions and thereby to perpetuate the spiritual lineages that constituted the backbone of their orders. Such accumulated wealth and estates also provided other freedoms for the donees or their successors. The money could be reinvested, the land rented out to tenants, etc. There were many ways that ascetics became involved, sometimes deeply, in administrative affairs and conflicts. A list of selected documents is presented below.
Documents on Bhagavantanātha
K_0469_0009: A copy of a lālamohara from King Pṛthvīnārāyaṇa appointing Gosāī̃ Bhagavantanātha as central overseer of jogīs (VS 1827)
K_0469_0032: A letter from King Pṛthvīnārāyaṇa to Bhagavantanātha re personal and foreign affairs (VS 1831)
DNA_0014_0050: A lālamohara from King Pratāpasiṃha reconfirming Gosāī̃ Bhagavantanātha as central overseer of jogīs (VS 1833)
K_0469_0008: A copy of a rukkā from King Raṇabahādura reconfirming Gosāī̃ Bhagavantanātha as central overseer of jogīs (VS 1839)
K_0469_0010: Copy of a rukkā from King Raṇabahādura reconfirming Gosāī̃ Bhagavantanātha as central overseer of jogīs (VS 1843)
Documents on Bhagavantanātha’s successors
K_0123_0050: A copy of a rukkā from King Raṇabhīma Śāha to Bhuvaneśvaranātha confirming a land grant in Sīsavā (VS 1854)
K_0469_0025: A copy of a rukkā from King Raṇabhīma Śāha to Bhuvaneśvaranātha confirming a land grant in Sīsavā (VS 1854)
K_0469_0035: Copy of a rukkā from King Rājendra confirming Rūpanātha as master of Rānāgāũ monastery (VS 1879)
K_0469_0036: Copy of a rukkā from King Rājendra confirming Lokanātha as master of Rānāgāũ monastery (VS 1889)
K_0469_0003: Copy of a rukkā from King Rājendra confirming Lokanātha as master of Rānāgāũ monastery (VS 1889)
K_0469_0028: A copy of a lālamohara from King Rājendra ordering local authorities to further exempt Bhagavantanātha's monastery from revenue payments, corvée etc. (VS 1897)
K_0468_0062: A copy of a rukkā from King Surendra authorizing Jagadīśvaranātha to serve as abbot of Rānāgāũ monastery (VS 1904)
K_0356_0032: A copy of a rukkā presumably of King Surendra appointing Santoṣanātha as abbot of Siddha Bhagavantanātha's monastery (VS 1909)
K_0356_0042: A copy of a rukkā of King Surendra reappointing Jagadīśvaranātha as abbot on Siddha Bhagavantanātha's monastic throne (VS 1909)
K_0097_0039: A copy of a rukkā from King Pṛthvī Vīra Vikrama authorizing Khimānātha to serve as abbot of Rānāgāũ monastery (VS 1938)
K_0469_0001: A copy of a rukkā from King Pṛthvī Vīra Vikrama authorizing Khīmānātha to serve as abbot of Rānāgāũ monastery (VS 1938)
K_0469_0024: A copy of a lālamohara from King Pṛthvī Vīra Vikrama authorizing Hīrānātha to serve as abbot of Rānāgāũ monastery (VS 1944)
K_0469_0015: A bintīpatra sent by Devīnātha informing the prime minister about the death of Mahanta Chatranātha (VS 1964)
K_0469_0045: A bayāna submitted by Devīnātha re the succession of Mahanta Chetranātha in Rānagāũ (VS 1964)
K_0469_0046: A bintīpatra sent by Vīra Bahādūra Basnyata Kṣatṛ re the succession of Mahanta Chetranātha (VS 1964)
K_0469_0033: A bintīpatra sent by Lokanātha to the premier requesting formal instalment as the successor of Mahanta Chatranātha in Rānagāũ (VS 1964)
K_0469_0038: A bakapatra supplied by Kālu Jogī Kavara re Mahanta Chetranātha's abbatial succession in Rānagāũ (VS 1964)
K_0469_0039: A bakapatra supplied by Udairāma Kavara re Mahanta Chetranātha's abbatial succession in Rānagāũ (VS 1964)
K_0469_0042: A bakapatra supplied by Ṭīkārāma Nyaupānyā re Mahanta Chatranātha's abbatial succession in Rānagāũ (VS 1964)
K_0469_0043: A bayāna supplied by Ṭīkārāma Nyaupānyā re Mahanta Chatranātha’s abbatial succession in Rānagāũ (VS 1964)
Documents on the Mṛgasthalī monastery
K_0252_0018: A purjī from the Mulukī Aḍḍā to the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā re the performance of Navarātra rituals by Bharapūranātha (VS 1978)
K_0252_0021: A written note from of the accounts office of the Baḍā Gurujyu to the Guṭhi Bandobasta Aḍḍā re the appointment of Bharapuranātha as the new abbot of the monastery of Gorakhanātha (VS 1978)
K_0252_0022: A kabuliyata from Bharapuranātha Jogī to the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā re his appointment as the new abbot of the monastery of Gorakhanātha (VS 1978)
Documents on the Bārhapantha
K_0440_0012: A copy of a rukkā from King Surendra to the jogīs of the Bārhapantha re the ānāmānā payment and the funding of patrapūjā (VS 1896)
K_0451_0058: A copy of a rukkā from King Surendra to the jogīs of the Bārhapantha re the ānāmānā payment and the funding of patrapūjā (VS 1896)
K_0471_0014: A rukkā from King Surendra to the jogīs of the Bārhapantha re the ānāmānā payment and the funding of patrapūjā (VS 1896)
Documents on the central overseer of Saṃnyāsīs
DNA_0013_0059: A rukkā from King Rājendra to officials appointing Raṃjīta Giri as central overseer of sannyāsīs (VS 1898)
DNA_0015_0031: A rukkā from King Rājendra to officials appointing Raṃjīta Giri as central overseer of sannyāsīs (VS 1898)
DNA_0015_0033: A lālamohara from King Rājendra appointing Raṃjīta Giri as overseer of sannyāsīs (V.S. 1898)
DNA_0016_0075: A rukkā from King Rājendra to officials appointing Raṃjīta Giri as central overseer of sannyāsīs (VS 1898)
Documents on Śrī Ratannātha at Phalabang
K_0013_0020B: A copy of a lālamohara from King Gīrvāṇayuddha appointing Lachīnātha as priest of Śrī Ratannātha at Phalābāṅ (VS 1873)
K_0015_0012B: A copy of a lālamohara from King Rājendra appointing Vuṭinnātha as priest of Śrī Ratannātha at Phalabang (VS 1877)
K_0013_0029E: A copy of a lālamohara from King Rājendra appointing Lakṣmīnātha as priest of Śrī Ratannātha at Phalabang (VS 1878)
K_0014_0009A : A copy of a lālamohara from King Rājendra appointing Pratāpanātha as priest of Śrī Ratannātha at Phalabang (VS 1879)
K_0636_0013: A copy of a rukkā from King Rājendra reconfirming Pratāpanātha as priest of Śrī Ratannātha at Phalabang (VS 1884)
K_0636_0012: A rukkā from King Rājendra appointing Brahmanātha as priest of Śrī Ratannātha at Phalabang (VS 1891)
Other documents on ascetics
PN_0004_0062: A copperplate inscription recording a land endowment by Bhīma Malla for feeding foreign Brahmins and ascetics and for worshipping Paśupatinātha (NS 760)
K_0440_0007: A copy of a lālamohara from Pṛthvīnārāyaṇa Śāha re land donations for Yogīs' cakrapūjās (VS 1826)
K_0515_0071: A copy of a letter from Raṅganātha Pauḍyāla to the subedāra of Mahottari district re the rights of the vairāgīs of Barahi to collect grain and timber on their birtā land [VS 1895]
DNA_0012_0001: A lālamohara from King Surendra acknowledging Rūpalāl Das as mahanta of Basahiyā Maṭh (VS 1927)
K_0230_0035: A letter from C-in-C Bhīma Śamśera Jaṅga Rāṇā Bahādura to the Guṭhī Bandobasta Aḍḍā re bidding farewell to ascetics after Śivarātrī (VS 1962)
K_0382_0036: A copy of a purjī from C-in-C General Bhīma Śamśera instructing the Guṭhī Kharca Aḍḍā to disburse funds to mahantas on the occasion of Baḍā Dasaĩ (VS 1968)
K_0384_0065: A copy of a purjī from C-in-C General Bhīma Śamśera instructing the Guṭhī Kharca Aḍḍā to disburse funds to mahantas on the occasion of Baḍā Dasaĩ (VS 1969)
K_0395_0066: A copy of a purjī from C-in-C General Bhīma Śamśera instructing the Guṭhī Kharca Aḍḍā to disburse funds to ascetic institutions on the occasion of Baḍā Dasaĩ (VS 1970)
