Võ Cạnh inscription

Võ Cạnh inscription, written in Sanskrit, was found in the village of Võ Cạnh, Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa, Vietnam. A replica at Khanh Hoa Museum.

The Võ Cạnh inscription is the oldest Sanskrit inscription ever found in Southeast Asia, discovered in 1885 in the village of Võ Cạnh, about 4 km from the city of Nha Trang, Vietnam.[1][2] This inscription is in the form of a 2.5 m high stone stele, with three uneven sides inscribed with the inscription lines.

The inscription mentions the name of King Sri Mara, which according to paleographic analysis was to whom it was erected by his descendants around 2nd or 3rd century CE.[3] There are still debates whether the inscription was a legacy of Lâm Ấp, Champa, or Funan. George Coedès mentioned the possibility of identifying Sri Mara with Fan Shih-man (c. 230 CE), which according to the Chinese chronicles was one of the rulers of Funan.[4] Coedès considered the Võ Cạnh inscription as proof of the first wave of Indianization in Southeast Asia.

Currently, the inscription is stored in the National Museum of Vietnamese History in the city of Hanoi, Vietnam.

Text

The Sanskrit text written on this inscription has been severely damaged.[5] Of the three sides of the inscription stele, on the first side at least the first six lines are almost completely blurred, and so are the first eight lines on the second side.[6] On the third side, even only a few characters can still be read.[6]

The parts of the text that can still be read contain the following phrases:[6]

  • "compassion for the creatures"
  • "the priests, ofcourse, who have drunk the ambrosia of the hundred words of the king"
  • "the ornament... by that which is the joy of the family of the daughter of the grandson of King Sri Mara... has been ordained"
  • "those who are seated on the throne"
  • "that which has to do with silver or gold"
  • "material treasure"
  • "all that is provided by me as one who is kind and useful"
  • "my minister Vira"
  • "the edict which bring the welfare of the creatures, by the better of the two karin, the going and coming of this world"

The mention of "the joy of the family of the daughter of the grandson of King Sri Mara .." may indicate the existence of a matrilineal system, which applies inheritance of assets to female relatives.[2][7] The word karin can mean "ivory" or "tax", which here may mean the king was a generous person.[6]

The use of certain Sanskrit terms in the inscription text, according to Jean Filliozat, shows the possibility that Valmiki's Ramayana epic was spread on the Indochina peninsula at the time this inscription was made. The Hindu religious terms used in the inscriptions is thought to date from pre-puranic time.[8][5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Keat, Gin Ooi (2004). Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor. 1 (berilustrasi ed.). ABC-CLIO. p. 643. ISBN 1576077705, 9781576077702.
  2. 1 2 Glover, Ian (2004). Southeast Asia: From Prehistory to History (Berilustrasi ed.). Psychology Press. p. 219. ISBN 041529777X, 9780415297776.
  3. ↑ Viswanatha, S.V. (2013). Racial Synthesis in Hindu Culture. Routledge. p. 225. ISBN 1136384200, 9781136384202.
  4. ↑ Coedès, George (1968). The Indianized States of South-East Asia. University of Hawaii Press. p. 40-41. ISBN 082480368X, 9780824803681.
  5. 1 2 Iyegar, Kodaganallur Ramaswami Srinivasa, ed. (2005). Asian Variations in Ramayana: Papers Presented at the International Seminar on "Variations in Ramayana in Asia : Their Cultural, Social and Anthropological Significance", New Delhi, January 1981 (Cetak ulang ed.). Sahitya Akademi. p. 192-193. ISBN 8126018097, 9788126018093.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Miksic, John Norman; Goh, Geok Yian (2016). Ancient Southeast Asia. Routledge World Archaeology. Routledge. ISBN 1317279034, 9781317279037.
  7. ↑ Tran, Ky Phuong; Lockhart, Bruce (2011). The Cham of Vietnam: History, Society and Art. UPCC book collections on Project MUSE (Berilustrasi ed.). NUS Press. p. 366. ISBN 997169459X, 9789971694593.
  8. ↑ Baker, Mona; Saldanha, Gabriela (2009). Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (Direvisi ed.). Routledge. p. 528. ISBN 1135211140, 9781135211141.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.