A Land Deed of Pathing 1904

The Deed of 1904 

 Documents are the ladders from where we can chirp our yester years with a closer analysis. It not only gives us information about our past but also drags the pen of a Historian towards the facts. It is only with the help of the old papers one can differentiate between facts and fictions which is an important ingredient to reach to a conclusion of the murky precedent. The document which I have secured from my teacher Mr. Keshav Gautam is related to a land agreement that belongs to a place called Pathing. Due to the lack of proper address in the document, one cannot assert whether the said Pathing is of East Sikkim or some other Pathing(s) which are strewn in different parts of our State. But, it is interesting to know that apart from the Royal Decrees passed by the Royal Courts, a small number of commoners in Sikkim even used to have their own seal. In this document a private Seal Shree Kali has been used and it is a common concurrence between two people of the same village that was related to the sale of land. It is also exciting to know from this document that without the help of a mediator (like Kazi, Mandal, Mukhtiyar etc.) the agreement was made.  

The English translation of the Document is as under:-

I Kashinath, a resident of Pathing, am selling my Land and orchard along with my house to Dev Sharma Upadhyay Khatiwara of the same village. I have received Rs. 33 from him as the cost of the land and house. I have put my signature in this agreement at my own wish. The Signatures of other three people during the agreement Parmananda Upadhyay, Purnananda Upadhyay Dahal, Hiralal Upadhyay Adhikari.

Signature- Kashinath Upadhyay Khatiwara

Samvat 1961 Date 9^th Pausha Roj (week) 2

Subham

1904 AD 15^th January.

The agreement was made between two Brahmins of Pathing and therefore, the initial of the document is started with two Sanskrit words SHREE i.e. in the honour of us and LIKHITAM i.e. we are writing. As stated above, for the credibility of the document a private Seal Shree Kali has been used. From the use of such private Seal it becomes clear that the selling of private land was also made in a mutual trust. Possibly, in order to keep themselves away from any future misunderstandings, they might use the Seal that bears name of some Gods and Goddesses. In this case, the persons involved in the agreement have used the Seal of Goddess Kali, who is regarded as the Goddess of anger and destroyer of the foes in Hindu mythology.

The Old Document in my Handwriting (one can notice the variation  of script  between the Old  and  New)

The Agreement is of Nine Lines (including Signatures and Date) and the only confusing thing about it is its date. To convert the Vikram Samvat era into AD we need to deduct 57 years from the existing Year mentioned in the Vikram Samavat. While adopting the same procedure, it is quite puzzling here to determine that it was signed in January 1904 AD.  If we have to accept the Vikram Samvat Paush 9^th 1963 as the date of agreement then it should be December 15^th 1903. But, we can consider the date on the ground that the agreement was made between the peasants who were not well acquainted with the English Date and Year.