The Ghyampa Used by Suryaman Singh Karki

This ghyampa (large storage vessel) was carried from Bhaktapur to Paiyapani, Bhojpur by Surya Suryaman Singh Karki. It is said that one lakh rupees in doli coins, minted at the Bhojpur mint, had been collected in it. One day, when he emptied the money from the full ghyampa onto a mat and asked his mother what should be done with it, she told him to perform a tola daan (gold donation) and dhanya parva (grain donation) as is done in the palace. Following his mother’s instruction, he performed the tola daan, dhanya parva and a Purana recitation. As far as is known to date, he can be regarded as the person who carried out such a religious act in eastern Nepal beyond the Indrawati.

This historical vessel is kept at the home of the grandson of the late Krishna Bahadur Karki (Suryaman Singh Karki) in Danke-Dawan, Siddheshwar, Bhojpur district. On 2075 Chaitra 16 (B.S.), during the preparation of the Lamakarki genealogy, on the initiative of Rajendra Kumar Karki, Chandi Karki, Mahendra Raj Karki and Sub-Inspector Dan Bahadur Karki, we had the opportunity to see and photograph the ghyampa kept at the ancestral home (the house of Bishnu B. Karki) in Dawan-Danke.

This business may date from the 1890s B.S. (around the 1830s AD). Bishnu Bahadur, alias Shambhu Karki, who is currently working abroad in Saudi Arabia, informed us by phone today, 2076 Chaitra 17 (B.S.) at 15:45, that the ghyampa was made in Bhaktapur and carried to Paiyapani, Bhojpur by Suryaman Singh Karki.