Components of the altar from Đồng Dương (C. 236), 9th century Śaka

Authors of digital edition: Arlo Griffiths (argr), Salomé Pichon (sapi).

Contributor: Salomé Pichon (sapi).

Palaeographic description: The lettering is characteristic of the ninth and tenth centuries CE.

Language: Sanskrit (san) [Cam (cam)].

Repository: Campa (tfc-campa-epigraphy).

Identifier: DHARMA_INSCIC00236.

File path: xml/DHARMA_INSCIC00236.xml.

Version: 2026-07-17 15:37 (56b2f49), last modified 2026-07-17 15:37 (56b2f49).

Edition

Zone A3

gni

Zone A5

Translation by Griffiths et al. 2012

Zone A3

Southeast¹

Zone A5

Northeast²

Commentary

These two syllables are without doubt intended to aid the foreman or his workers in correctly assembling the blocks, by providing their orientation: the staircase has to be oriented between Southeast and Northeast, or, in other words, towards the East. The signs were not meant to be visible anymore after assembly of the altar, being covered up by a higher level of blocks.

Bibliography

First edited with translation into English by Arlo Griffiths et al. (2012).

Primary

[CIC] Griffiths, Arlo, Amandine Lepoutre, William Aelred Southworth & Thành Phần. 2012. Văn khắc Chămpa tại Bảo tàng Điêu khắc Chăm - Đà Nẵng / The inscriptions of Campā at the museum of Cham sculpture in Đà Nẵng. Ho Chi Minh City; Hanoi: VNUHCM Publishing House and Center for Vietnamese and Southeast Asian Studies University of Social Sciences and Humanities Vietnam National University Hồ Chí Minh City; École française d’Extrême-Orient. [URL]. Pages 281–282.

Secondary

BEFEO 35. Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient, tome XXXV, 1935. Vol. 35. No place, 1935. [URL]. Page 458.

Vandermeersch, Léon & Jean-Pierre Ducrest. 1997. Le Musée de Sculpture Caṃ de Đà Nẵng. Paris: École française d’Extrême-Orient. Pages 113–116.

Boisselier, Jean. 1963. La statuaire du Champa : Recherches sur les cultes et l’iconographie. Publications de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient 54. Paris: École française d’Extrême-Orient. Pages 108–110.

Griffiths, Arlo, Amandine Lepoutre, William Aelred Southworth & Thành Phần. 2008–2009. “Études du corpus des inscriptions du Campā, III: Épigraphie du Campa 2009-2010: prospection sur le terrain, production d’estampages, supplément à l’inventaire.” BEFEO 95, pp. 435–497. DOI: 10.3406/befeo.2008.6118. [URL]. Pages 451–452.

Notes

1. The block showing the temporary mark A3 in the photo is engraved with the syllable gni. This is an abbreviation of agni(dik), that is the guardian deity of the Southeast, Agni, or the direction (dik) that he oversees.
2. The block showing the temporary mark A5 bears the syllable Ī. This is an abbreviation of īśāna(dik), that is the guardian deity of the Northeast, Īśāna, or the direction (dik) that he oversees.

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<p>These two syllables are without doubt intended to aid the foreman or his workers in correctly assembling the blocks, by providing their orientation: the staircase has to be oriented between Southeast and Northeast, or, in other words, towards the East. The signs were not meant to be visible anymore after assembly of the altar, being covered up by a higher level of blocks.</p>

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