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March 11, 2021

No single group of Westerners had a longer or more intimate connection with medieval Nepal than the Capuchin missionaries of the province of Ancona, who were given charge of the Tibet Mission in 1703 by the Congregation of the Propaganda Fide in Rome. From the early years of the eighteenth century until the takeover of the Kathmandu valley by Pṛthvī Nārāyaṇa Shāh in 1768-69, the Capuchins kept an almost constant presence in the towns of the valley, where their principal base was Bhaktapur.

The letters and reports in Italian and Latin left behind by the many priests who staffed these missions mention in several places books written in Newari by the missionaries for the propagation of Christianity among the populace, but none of these documents has ever been unearthed in the past. Luciano Petech, in his edition of the Capuchin documents relating to the Nepal-Tibet mission, lists a total of seven such works, including translations of two catechisms, the Dottrina Cristiana of Turlot and the Dottrina Cristina of S. Roberto Bellarmino; an original "book of apologetica" composed by Padre Vito da Recanati "to confute the main errors found in these kingdoms"; and four other works, including a summary of morals for the use of new converts, explanations of the seven deadly sins and seven sacraments, and a dialogue between master and pupil on the Christian faith. Petech precedes his list with the note, "All lost" [1].

Over the years since Petech edited the Capuchin documents, scholars in Nepal have managed to find several Christian texts in Newari left behind by the Capuchin fathers [2]. One of these, the most original and the most interesting, is the "piccolo libro" composed by Padre Vito da Recanati and the other fathers of the Bhaktapur mission of 1740, the "book of apologetica" of Petech's list. Written with the help of the missionaries' enthusiastic language teacher, the Brahman Bālagovinda, this tract was presented to Raṇajita Malla in a lively audience one June evening in Bhaktapur some 250 years ago. Preserved through the centuries, this little 24-folio "thyāsaphū", or folding book, eventually found its way into the collection of the Kaiser Library in Kathmandu. It is this book, and the circumstances leading to its creation and presentation, that I will focus on in this paper.

The Capuchin mission to Nepal and Tibet was sanctioned by the Congregation of the Propaganda in 1703. Over nearly four decades the fortunes of the mission fluctuated until it was faced with extinction for lack of support in the late 1730's. It took the energetic lobbying of the Prefect of the Mission, Father Francesco Orazio della Penna, to convince the Propaganda to again invest fully in the distant mission. He succeeded and returned from Rome with several fathers, arriving in Bhaktapur on the 6th of February 1740 [3].

With della Penna was Father Cassiano da Macerata, in many respects the most talented of the Capuchin missionaries to Nepal and Tibet. Petech called him a "born ethnographer" [4], and it is a pity that more of his writing has not survived. Even that part of his Journal that has survived is not only an invaluable testimony to the history of the Capuchin mission, but also contains fascinating descriptions of the peoples and customs of Nepal and Tibet. Much of the information regarding the circumstances surrounding Padre Vito's "little book" come from the facile pen of Father Cassiano [5].

One of the first acts of the newly arrived group of missionaries was a visit to the king of Bhaktapur, Raṇajita Malla, described by Cassiano:

After lunch on the 7th we went to visit the king who embraced us all affectionately and treated us with great familiarity and confidence; he made us all sit at his side and he kept us for more than an hour... we presented him with some little objects (bagatelle) from Europe, with which he showed particular pleasure [6].

Throughout the documents left behind by the missionaries one is struck by the generally friendly attitude of the rulers of the three kingdoms, particularly Raṇajita Malla, who, in Cassiano's words "always distinguished himself from the other kings for his affection towards us" [7]. Jaya Prakāśa Malla, king of Kathmandu, was a considerably more prickly character, whom Cassiano notes at their first meeting was "not as friendly as the king of Batgao... he did not make us sit, but he only put some questions about our countries and after half an hour he dismissed us" [8]. In an earlier incident, in fact, Jaya Prakāśa had della Penna imprisoned for several months, and some years later he imprisoned della Penna's successor as prefect. The missionaries treated him with the careful distrusts his well-documented capriciousness deserved. Many times they remarked on his violent and unpredictable character, and one later letter notes that "he has been criticized and with charity scolded by the missionaries" for his tyrannical way [9]. But he was often friendly: in one incident of 1752 the missionaries were being harassed by an apostate woman who had brought them to court, but the judges, though apparently favouring the woman, ruled for the missionaries in part "fearing the wrath of the king who was showing himself very friendly towards them in those days" [10]. Although dealings with the rulers of Patan were less close, they were still most cordial; when Father Constantino da Lora went to establish a station in Patan in 1744 he was given a most comfortable house near Taḥ Bāhāḥ and noted the "kind reception" of the king. At one meeting "he made me enter into his private room, a finesse never performed before, as far as I know, by the kings of Kathmandu and Batgaon" [11]. The generally friendly attitude of the kings of the three valley kingdoms was plentifully attested by their donation of houses, often quite impressive, and even more important, their grants of freedom of conscience, by which the missionaries were promised a free hand in preaching and converting, and converts were protected from prosecution [12]. Even the kings outside the valley were generally friendly; the king of Tanah was particularly hospitable, and Siṃha Pratāpa Shāh, the son of Pṛthvī Nārāyaṇa, gave later missionaries hopes of a royal conversion, although his father regarded the padres with the same suspicion he accorded to any westerner, as all were suspected of being in league with the feared and hated British.

It is the hope of every missionary to a distant land that he might succeed in converting a barbarian prince and thus in one fell swoop gain an entire kingdom for his faith. For this reason, the Capuchins, like all missionaries, took especial pains with the kings of the valley and the members of their courts. As a result, they recorded their impressions of the kings of the valley in particular detail. From the Capuchin documents we learn much about the institution of kingship in the later Malla period and the personalities of certain individual princes.

The most remarkable impression given by the Capuchin documents is that of the kings' accessibility to the people. They participated regularly in the festivals, usually on foot, and often participated in the rowdier festival celebrations, such as the sindur throwing at Bisket in Bhaktapur [13]. During Mohani or Dasain, the king joined a procession through the city on foot, accompanied by the members of his court and the merchants of the town [14]. One padre noted that the king of Patan went to visit Taḥ Bāhāḥ every day with his court, even though custom required no more than bi-weekly visits [15]. In one of the most remarkable of the Capuchin memoirs, Cassiano recorded an extraordinary public council called by Raṇajita Malla when he was in political trouble with his populace. Cassiano describes how the general public were allowed to enter the palace compound at night to advise and criticize the king in person [16].

This extraordinary example of the people's influence over their rulers in the Kathmandu valley of the late medieval period enlarges on the few tḥyāsāphū references that hint of this kind of power, such as one describing the confinement of a king and queen in their palace in N.S. 830 and another which refers to the popular "election" of Indra Malla in N.S. 826 in Patan [17].

In order to teach the padres' religion directly to the kings of the valley, Padre Vito set to work on his apologetic treatise:

In order to profit from the favorable attitude of the king Padre Vito applied himself to learning the language under the guidance of a Brahman and at the same time he made a small book (piccolo libro) in which he showed that only one could be the religion given by God to men, through which they could find spiritual health and this could be only the Christian to the exclusion of all the others. At the time of our arrival he was toiling at the translation, so that before we would give it out we had all the time to widen it and strengthen it with new reasons [18].

By the beginning of March 1740 the book was finally finished and several copies made; one was sent to Raṇajita Malla, who scheduled an audition for the 7th of March.

Let us now turn our attention for a few moments to the text itself of this "piccolo libro". Written in Newari in three chapters of varying length, the text is conspicuous for its almost total lack of punctuation, a characteristic which does not ease the task of translation. The spelling shows the Bhaktapur origins of the book, particularly in the long ā often being used in place of the a or svara found in the "standard" Kathmandu speech. In several cases Hindi words being used in place of common Newari terms betray the padres' familiarity with that tongue.

The book occasionally speaks of the Capuchin fathers themselves and their reasons for coming to Nepal:

The padres have gone everywhere throughout the world, they have crossed the seas to tell of the truth of the Lord; giving up all comfort for themselves, going from country to country, the padres have uplifted and saved. They thought not of money, nor was it to take a profit of the things of this world, for it was only to save lives and teach the path to paradise; all of the padres who came surely came for the salvation of the people, to send the lives of all the people on the road to paradise. (SSP 4.2-4.6) m [19].

The main thrust of the book is above all to demonstrate the uniqueness of God who is consistently stated to be solitary, and who cannot possibly be multiple. Similes are often employed to demonstrate the reasonableness of this tenet:

...if there is only one king it is good, for it is best if only one protector comes; many pandits have expressed this matter; have written it down in the same way. Again, in order to clarify this, intelligent men will think of those occasions when on this earth there were many chiefs, and in some places kingdoms were destroyed, and then they will understand; and they (should) think and remember how many times this (type of situation) has come to Nepal. The animals respect a single protector, just as the honey bee respects a single leader, just as the beasts respect a single shepherd; in one house there are not many chiefs, in one kingdom there are not many kings, in one heaven there are not many suns, in one body there are not many lives; in the same way there are not may gods protecting this world (11.1-12.1).

Religious error is said to come from two "diseases of the mind's eye" (6.1), the first of which is total blindness, or atheism. The padres found this a rare affliction in Nepal:

...the foolish man will surely say to himself that there is no god. We cannot consider that there are those with this type of blindness of the ingelligence in Nepal, for so many temples have been erected in the cities, so many images of gods have been made and placed in the cities, on the roads, in houses and fountains, and beyond this so many sacrifices of animals are performed and gifts given, services performed, hymns sung, and in so many other ways daily worship is performed thinking indeed that only the gods exist. When we consider (all) this work, we are forced to abandon any confusion about whether there are gods or not (here in Nepal). But even if there are but a few such fools (in this Nepal), then the padres respectfully address those who would like to cure (themselves) of their eye disease, the padres can cure this disease of blindness (6.5-7.3).

But the book lays the blame for the second affliction of mental sight, the invention of a multiplicity of gods, with "the Hindus", a term which the authors use to refer to any polytheisitic tradition:

It is fitting to say that he who says there is no god is the same as an insane man, but even more insane are those men who have made a plurality of gods. Everyone knows that the great Lord of paradise is a god, and in the same way it is certain that there is only one Lord, not many... As to who it was that made this Lord multiple, it was the Hindus, for it was these people who made many gods (7.4-7.7, 7.9-8.2).

Faith is a central doctrine, taking up the entire short second chapter of the text (where the word used is" āsā", from Sanskrit "āśā", "hope"). A secular simile is used in this section to show the reasonableness of placing one's faith in a single Supreme Being:

Again I will say, eternal life is given in heaven, and only by the pleasure of this one (the Lord); so, (we should ask) does he have the responsibility (or capability) or not? if he does, then we must put our faith only in this one. I will speak of a worldly example; whoever wants to be rich in this world can't put his faith in a pauper. If one has in mind the desire to learn some work, another who doesn't know cannot teach; there is no point in hoping to obtain a government position from a person of small or base caste, we say clearly that it will not come; we should only have faith that (such a thing) will come from either a king or a courtier; we will put our faith only in he who can give. Thus we should put (all) our faith in the one god of eternal life in heaven (21.3-22.2).

A further central theme of the book is that the way of Christianity is the only way to salvation; again similes are brought into play:

If there is but one good road entering a city and instead of going by that way we go by another way on a bad road and fall down, we may die. When many winds come we may reach the shore, but not in the boat of an enemy... Just as it isn't possible to reach the city if one falls down, or to reach the shore in the boat of an enemy, in the same way it is not possible to reach the heaven of eternal life except by the cārya of satyasākṣi deva (26-8-27.2, 27.6-27.8).

To follow this path demands wholehearted commitment, not merely lipservice, which is compared to the attitude of a traitorous courtier. Here again we see the use of similes which would appeal to those of high rank, a feature of the entire text:

It is not enough for a subject to follow but half of his master's command, as in the case of a subject who when ordered by his king to bestow a donation does not give all and secretly keeps part for himself; or another, who when ordered by his king not to kill a follower, on the one hand follows his king's command but on the other, sides with his king's enemies and pays for the follower to be killed; this we will not call loyality. Or the courtier who on seeing his king salutes him, but in front of another king reviles and scolds him; if he acts thus, we will not call this sufficient service (29.2-30.2).

In keeping with the emphasis on monotheism, there is nowhere a reference, except on the title page, of which more later, to either Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, or the Virgin Mary. In essence, the book is an introduction to the entire Judea-Christian tradition, and in a sense is more a tract on Judaism than Christianity. One can see the reason for avoiding references to the Holy Trinity in a book that above all insists on monotheism and attacks the religion of the Brahmans for the plurality of its gods. The book is unique among the Newari works of the Padres in this feature, for the others that I have seen all refer to Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Virgin Mary and saints and prophets. But Vito's tract refers only to Parameśvara, a term which I translate as "the Lord". (When referring to the multiple deities of the polytheistic traditions, the book usually uses deva, although in one instance, quoted above, satyasākṣi deva is used to refer to the Christian God) [20].

The book has another feature worthy of note, that is the copious references to Greek philosophers, referred to usually as "pandits" or "Hindu pandits", often called in defense of the doctrines proposed by the book but sometimes attacked for their opposing views:

the Hindu pandits of the past (nhāpāyā hinduyā panditana) thinking with their own intelligence proclaimed to all the people that there is indeed one Lord. These words were published in the book of Aristotela, in chapter 12. He called Trimijisto also said, "the Lord is what? the Lord is one". Pittāgvarā also taught thus, the Lord is solitary. Plātone proclaimed in many places that the Lord is one. This was even more clearly shown one by Divaniji when he was in the kingdom of Pāchyāśirākusā; this pandit wrote a letter; and whenever he wrote of great work he wrote only of one Lord, and whenever it was a matter of small work at that time he wrote of many gods, and in this way he showed that there is but one Lord. I have not written of the other pandits, (for) I wish to keep (this book) concise, (so) I have only written this (15.2-16.2).

These startling references must have baffled the Newar scholars who studied the text.

The audience for the 7th of March was postponed through the machinations of Kāśinātha, the chief court Brahman, who wanted to have the time to study the book in advance. Eventually the king was given a synopsis of the contents by Kāśinātha at a council. Father Cassiano reports the result:

...they discussed the matter and in conclusion they all said unanimously that none of them wished to change the religion of their forefathers. The king proposed an expedient, saying that since we had come to his kingdom from such remote countries in order only to propagate our religion and as none of them wished to take it, it seemed a good expedient to send us some of the populace, so that we could make them our pupils; they approved the replacement and the next morning we were told of it [21].

Who knows how the religious complexion of Bhaktapur might have changed if the padres had been less idealistic, but as it was they refused the king’s generous offer, replying that they wanted to christen "only those who, moved by the strength of the truth, would ask spontaneously for it" [22]. It is interesting to note to that the offer to supply replacement converts was also proffered by Bāhadur Shāh several decades later, when he asked for teachings in metallurgy from the fathers in Bihar and was told they would be glad to teach him if he converted. His offer to supply several replacements in his stead was also refused by the fathers, which prompted him to scoff that he doubted the padres had the knowledge they offered to trade for his conversion [23].

The fathers were disappointed not to have had the chance to present the book to the king in person, but it seemed that the king was preoccupied with his political problems and the war which was constantly being waged with his valley colleagues. Finally the Prefect made a last try prior to his scheduled departure for Tibet and was pleased when "the King fixed the audience for the same evening of the 5th June and let us know to bring the book" [24].

Fig. 1: Frontispiece of the manuscript (click on the image for image with full caption)

The book they brought with them was a somewhat special edition. As Cassiano explained:

It is a custom among the Nepalese to paint on the frontispiece of their books some figure pertaining to the subject treated in the book. Balgovinda persuaded P. Prefetto to follow this custom; and we decided to put Our Lord resurrected among his disciples when he intimates to them the order: Euntes in mundum universum predicate evangelium omni creaturae; qui crediderit et baptizatus fuerit salvus erit, qui vero non crediderit condemnabis (Going in the whole world, preach the Gospel to all creatures: those who believe and are christened will be saved, those who do not believe will be damned), that is the very seal of the Propaganda. I was in charge of outlining and colouring such figures, and although it was just a mass of scratches, however in Nepal it could have passed for a work of Titian [25].

And thus was solved a knotty art historical puzzle. I could never understand where the picture of the frontispiece of this little manuscript could have come from (Fig. 1). When I first saw it in the Kaiser Library I assumed it must have been painted by a local Citrakāra - very cleverly indeed, I thought - after a small painting brought along by the padres. But when I read these words the mystery was solved and I realized I was confronted with a genuine Cassiano da Macerata, ca. 1740. Surely this frontispiece must join Orazio della Penna's Latin-Newari epitaph "in the first rank of curiosities from the Nepalese corpus" to use Lévi's phrase [26] (see fig. 1).

Cassiano goes on to describe the audience in which the special edition of the "piccolo libro" was finally presented to Raṇajita Malla:

As we came to court we were introduced to the king who was waiting for us with Kasinat and the second court brahman, the viceroy and another confidant. After the ceremonial and some indifferent talk, P. Prefetto introduced to him the book. When the king saw the figure under which it was written with their characters the above-mentioned text translated in Nepalese language, the Prefetto started to explain the meaning of it in Hindustani language and Balgovinda, taking over the explanation in Nepalese language, went on with such vivacity and energy about not only the explanation of the figure but also the substance of the book, as good as one could wish from an enthusiastic missionary. The king listened with pleasure and applauded the vivacity and spirit of Balgovinda; and after that he questioned Casinat why he had always tricked him, saying always that our religion was the same as that of the Turks of Hindustan and the Kashmir people deeply abhorred by the gentili. If the tenets of our religion were as Balgovinda exposed them and as he said were in the book, then they did not look so far from the good as he had been made to think in the past. The king praised much our religion and said that in a more quiet time he would have considered it [27].

Thus the audience ended in a note of triumph for the padres and their enthusiastic brahman helper Bélagovinda. Kāśinātha was thrown into confusion, mumbling lamely that he would have to have the book sent to Kāśi for a thorough examination, and later challenging the padres to a trial of magic at which he said he would prove the superiority of his religion by "being able to fly in front of all the people" [28]. Later he calmed down somewhat and in a friendly discussion with P. Vito and the Prefetto resolved some of their differences, insisting that both religions had the same basic precepts.

The Capuchin mission was to last for some 28 more years, and several times over this period the padres' hopes for a royal conversion were raised. This little book was used again in attempts to impress other kings. It may have been the book shown years later to Jaya Prakāśa [29] and also may be the book "Contrail Deota" that was given to Pṛthvī Nārāyaṇa and to which he promised a reply [30]. But no Nepalese king ever relented from his ancestral religion, and despite promises of freedom of conscience from the kings of all three of the valley towns, "the strength of the truth" moved precious few of their subjects either, and it was with but a tiny band of converts that the Capuchins finally left Nepal after the rise of Pṛthvī Nārāyaṇa. The houses they lived in finally disappeared, even the bi-lingual tombstone of the brave Orazio della Penna was swallowed up, until it appeared to Percival Landon that “nothing whatever remains in Nepal to mark the devotion and the temporary influence of the Capuchins [31]. Nothing besides several small manuscripts, among them the little book of Padre Vito and Bālagovinda, decorated with Cassiano's “mass of scratches”, which once Raṇajita Malla held in his hands and considered on a June evening in Bhaktapur.

Footnotes:

1. L. Petech (ed), 1952a, Il Nuovo Ramusio, Vol. 2, Part 1, Roma: La Libreria dello Stato, p. XCIV.

2. I'd like to thank Kashinath Tamot and Austin Hale who introduced me to the the first two manuscripts listed below; Mr. Tamot also provided valuable suggestions concerning my translations of mss. a and b. These are the manuscripts with which I am acquainted:

a. Satya Sākṣi Parameśvarayā Mahimā: Kaiser Library Ms. no. 281; Newari in Nepāla akṣara, 24 folios, 23.2x9.6 cm., thyāsaphū; Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project microfilm no. C29/13, colour slide Bl 9. The ms. referred to in this article.

b. Satya Sākṣi Parameśvarayā Mahimā: private collection, Kathmandu; Newari in Nepāla akṣara, 19 folios, 21.2x9.5 cm., thyāsaphū; MPP microfilm no. E263/10. Essentially the same text as no. a, with occasional variant readings that are occasionally helpful in deciphering the meaning of a. Not quite as clearly written, several passages are smudged and difficult to read.

c. Guṇa Dharma Prakāśa: National Archives, Kathmandu, ms. no. 3-796; Newari in Nepāla akṣara, 243 folios from no. 143-385, 27.Sx8.7 cm., paper in loose leaves, first folio with a space left blank for an illustration; MPP microfilm no. A915/2. The manuscript is incomplete, with no colophon; the name is taken from a phrase in the body of the text. The first available page seems to be a beginning of some sort, however, and the text may be part of a larger whole. The entire text takes the form of a dialogue between a teacher and his pupil, the teacher asking questions which are then replied to by the pupil, the guru's question always preceded by the phrase "guruna ṅena" (the guru asks) and the pupil's reply by "siṣyana kana" (the pupil tells). The dialogue covers a wide variety of topics relating to Christianity; Charity, feast days, the various types and sub-types of sins; perhaps most astonishing, the ten commandments in Latin (identified in the text as "phrīṃgī bhāsa") transliterated into Nepāla akṣara ("egvasum domīnus deus tu'us ... ") and then translated into Newari ("ji chana parameśvara chana thākura khava ... "). The text ends without a colophon after a discussion of purgatory. Perhaps this is one of the translations of the catechisms of Turlot and Bellarmino prepared by Francesco Orazio della Penna (see Petech 1952a: XCIV); a thorough study of the manuscript in comparison with these works is necessary to decide the question.

d. A concise dialogue on Christianity; a fragment of a thyāsaphū in the possession of a family in Asan tole, Kathmandu. Photographs in the possession of Dr. Todd Lewis, who very kindly showed them to me. The text is a dialogue, but extremely concise. Unlike Satya Sākṣi Parameśvarayā Mahimā, but like Guṇa Dharma Prakāśa, the questions relate directly to the Trinity, the Virgin Mary, etc., as in the question and answer: Q. "ganā kālā mhā, jiva"? "Where did he take his body and life?"; A. "kumāli māriyāṃyā pethasa" "In the womb of the virgin Māriyāṃ".

3. F. Vannini, 1977, Christian Settlements in Nepal during the Eighteenth Century, New Delhi: the author, p. 49.

4. L. Petech, 1952b, Il Nuovo Ramusio, Vol. 2, Part 2, Roma: La Libreria dello Stato, p. 1.

5. I would like here to acknowledge my debt to Piero Morandi who prepared the translation from the Italian of F. Cassiano's Journal and the various other documents I quote here. I should mention here that when quoting these documents, I have retained the spellings found therein.

6. Cassiano, 1953. Giornale del P. Cassiano da Macerata, in L. Petech (ed.), Il Nuovo Ramusio, Vol. 2, Part 4, Roma: La Libreria dello Stato, p. 22.

7. Cassiano, 1953, p. 23.

8. Cassiano, 1953, p. 37.

9. L. Petech (ed.), 1952b, Il Nuovo Ramusio, Vol. 2, Part 2, Roma: La Libreria dello Stato, p. 199.

10. L. Petech (ed.), 1952b, Il Nuovo Ramusio, Vol. 2, Part 2, Roma: La Libreria dello Stato, p. 189.

11. L. Petech (ed.), 19526, Il Nuovo Ramusio, Vol. 2, Part 2, Roma: La Libreria dello Stato, p. 16. There is some confusion as to who this king was. Petech in a parenthetical note in the text of the letter mentions Rājya Prakāśa, as does Vannini (1977: 58-59). But according to Mary Slusser, Viṣṇu Malla was still on throne until the summer of 1745 (M.S. Slusser, 1982, Nepal Mandala, Vol. 1, Princeton: Princeton University Press, p. 401).

12. L. Petech (ed.), 1952b, Il Nuovo Ramusio, Vol. 2, Part 4, Roma: La Libreria dello Stato, pp. 217-230.

13. Cassiano, 1953, p. 31.

14. Cassiano, 1953, p. 55.

15. L. Petech (ed.), 1952b, Il Nuovo Ramusio, Vol. 2, Part 2, Roma: La Libreria dello Stato, p. 225.

16. Cassiano, 1953, p. 33; and D.R. Regmi, 1966a, Medieval Nepal, Part II, Calcutta: Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay, p. 247.

17. D.R. Regmi, 1966c, Medieval Nepal, Part IV, Patna: self-published, p. 346 (folio 48); D.R. Regmi, 1966b, Medieval Nepal, Part Ill, Calcutta: Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay, p. 112.

18. Cassiano, 1953, p. 26.

19. Citations from the Satya Sākṣi Parameśvarayā Mahimā. (SSP) are given with folio and line numbers. I have prepared a very preliminary translation of the first two sections of the text, and a synopsis of the final sections. The passages given below are from this very free translation.

20. The title of the book as given in the colophon is satyasākṣi parameśvarayā mahimā, which could be translated as Praises of the Lord who is Witness to the Truth (or, who is a Trustworthy Witness) or, if we use Apte's Practical Sanskrit Dictionary's meaning 2. for sākṣin, The Lord who is the true Supreme Being.

21. Cassiano, 1953, p. 28.

22. Cassiano, 1953, p. 28.

23. Kirkpatrick, 1975 (rep.), An Account of the Kingdom of Nepaul, reprinted New Delhi: Asian Book Services, p. 120.

24. Cassiano, 1953, p. 35.

25. Cassiano, 1953, p. 35.

26. S. Levi, 1905, Le Népal, vol. 1, Paris: Ernest Leroux, p. 103.

27. Cassiano, 1953, p. 36.

28. Cassiano, 1953, p. 37.

29. L. Petech (ed.), 1952b, Il Nuovo Ramusio, Vol. 2, Part 2, Roma: La Libreria dello Stato, p. 182.

30. L. Petech (ed.), 1952b, Il Nuovo Ramusio, Vol. 2, Part 2, Roma: La Libreria dello Stato, p. 231.

31. P. Landon, 1976 (rep), Nepal, reprinted Kathmandu: Ratna Pustak Bhandar, Vol. 2, Appendix XVI, p. 237.