# K. 1270. Fragment of Prasat Preah Ko, Ta Keo, 5th-6th century CE

Kunthea Chhom, Arlo Griffiths and Dominic Goodall

Authors of digital edition: Kunthea Chhom, Arlo Griffiths, Dominic
Goodall

Identifier: DHARMA_INSCIK01270

Repository: Khmer (tfc-khmer-epigraphy)

File path: texts/xml/DHARMA_INSCIK01270.xml

Language: Sanskrit [Khmer]

Commit: 2026-10-23 15:46 (7597515), last modified 2026-09-17 01:54
(2c24a58)

## Palaeographic description

The lettering is characteristic of the fifth-sixth century CE. The
akṣaras have very long ornamental descenders, as in K. 40 and K. 1515.

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## Edition

1. Uncertain meter

⟨1⟩ […][1×](tatra)ś(ī)tyāyam abhūn mahākra[t](u)[ḥ]

## Translation

⟨1⟩ ... this (ayam) great sacrifice (mahākratuḥ) took place (abhūt)
using eighty (aśītyā) ...

## Commentary

The remaining text is compatible with three at least three verse types,
namely indravaṁśā, vaṁśamālā and vaṁśastha, the latter being rather
common in Cambodian Sanskrit inscriptions.

Epic Sanskrit texts are full of rājasūyas and aśvamedhas that are
described as mahākratu. If we assume, despite the problem formulated in
our apparatus, that the text contained the word aśīti meaning “eighty”,
and that this word qualified officiants, or sacrificial victims, it
would mean that indeed the text was dealing with a rather large-scale
ritual.

⟨1⟩ It seems impossible to interpret the sequence ś(ī)tyāyam otherwise
than as containing the words aśītyā and ayam. However, our tentative
reading of the preceding akṣara as tra is not compatible with the idea
that the text had the word aśīti: we would need trā, tro, tre, tya or
tva before śī, but we are unable to match what we see on the photographs
with any of those akṣaras.

## Bibliography

Edited by Arlo Griffiths & Kunthea Chhom, in consultation with Dominic
Goodall, from the photographs KPreah Kô - 004 - 029.