Cliff face at Chợ Dinh (C. 41), 5th century CE

Author of digital edition: Arlo Griffiths (argr).

Contributor: Arlo Griffiths (argr).

Palaeographic description: The lettering is characteristic of the fifth century CE.

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

Repository: Campa (tfc-campa-epigraphy).

Identifier: DHARMA_INSCIC00041.

File path: xml/DHARMA_INSCIC00041.xml.

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

Edition

⟨Zone A: Main⟩

⟨A1⟩ namo devāya _ bhadreśvarasvāmi-pāda-prasādāT _ Agnaye tvā juṣṭaṁ kariṣyāmi

⟨A2⟩ dharmma-mahārāja-śrī-bhadravarmmaṇo yāvac candrādityau tāvat putra-pautram bhokṣyati

⟨A3⟩ pr̥thiv(ī)⟨ṁ⟩ prasādāt k¿ā?rmma-siddhir astu ꩜

⟨Zone B: Secondary⟩

⟨B1⟩ śivo dāso baddhyate

Apparatus

⟨A2⟩ bhokṣyati ⬦ mokṣyati B.

⟨A3⟩ pr̥thiv(ī)⟨ṁ⟩ prasādāt ⬦ pr̥thiv¿i?⟨ī⟩-prasādāt B.

⟨B1⟩ śivo dāso baddhyate • Bergaigne suggests as only possible alternative reading: śivo dāso vaddhyo yaḥ. In his footnote, Barth expresses a preference for reading baddhyeta and suggests that the first word could, perhaps, be read śaivo.

Translation

⟨A⟩ Homage to the God! By the grace of the feet of Bhadreśvarasvāmin, I shall make you agreeable to Fire. As long as the Sun and the Moon exist, so long will the sons and grandsons of the righteous mahārāja Śrī Bhadravarman enjoy (bhokṣyati) the earth. By the grace ⟨of Śiva Bhadreśvara⟩, may ⟨this⟩ ritual be successful.

⟨B⟩ The servant, who is favorable, is bound.

Translation by Majumdar 1927

⟨A⟩ Reverence to God! By the favour of the feet of the Bhadreśvarasvāmin I shall make thee agreeable to Fire (i.e., sacrifice thee). So long as the Sun and the Moon endure, he (Agni) will save the sons and grandsons of Dharma-Mahārāja Śrī Bhadravarman. May the work (sacrifice) be successful through the grace of the earth

⟨B⟩ Śiva, the slave is bound (to the post).

Translation into French by Bergaigne 1893

⟨A⟩ 1. Hommage au Dieu ! Par la faveur des Pieds du Seigneur Bhadreśvara, — je te rendrai agréable à Agni. 2. Tant que dureront le Soleil et la Lune, il sauvera les fils et les petits-fils du Grand roi de la Loi, Śrī-Bhadravarman. 3. Que par la faveur de la Terre, le sacrifice réussisse !

⟨B⟩ Le Dāsa propitiatoire est attaché au poteau.

Commentary

The allusion to Agni, god of fire, is probably connected with the fact that the rock wall bearing the inscription faces southeast, the direction associated with this god. The second person addressed here was perhaps another deity: compare the use of tvayi in C. 216.

Bibliography

First edited by Abel Bergaigne (1893), along with facsimiles of the estampages collected by Étienne Aymonier. Re-edited here by Arlo Griffiths based on the same facsimiles.

Primary

[B] Bergaigne, Abel. 1893. Inscriptions sanscrites de Campā et du Cambodge. Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque nationale 27, 1re partie, [2e fascicule]. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale. [URL]. Pages 19–26 [199–206], item XXI.

Secondary

Bergaigne, Abel. 1888. “L’ancien royaume de Campā, dans l’Indo-Chine, d’après les inscriptions.” JA 8 (11), pp. 5–105. [URL]. Pages 5, 43, 75.

Aymonier, Étienne. 1892. “Une mission en Indo-Chine (relation sommaire).” Bulletin de la Société de Géographie de Paris 13 (7), pp. 339–374. [URL]. Page 370.

Finot, Louis. 1902. “Notes d’épigraphie, I : deux nouvelles inscriptions de Bhadravarman Ier, roi de Champa.” BEFEO 2, pp. 185–191. DOI: 10.3406/befeo.1902.1119. [URL]. Pages 185–186.

Parmentier, Henri. 1909. Inventaire descriptif des monuments čams de l’Annam. Tome premier: Description des monuments. Paris: Imprimerie nationale. [URL]. Page 140.

Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra. 1927. Ancient Indian colonies in the Far East, Vol. I: Champa. Punjab Oriental (Sanskrit) Series 16. Lahore: The Punjab Sanskrit Book Depot. [URL]. Book III, pages 3–4, items 2–3.

Golzio, Karl-Heinz. 2004. Inscriptions of Campā: Based on the editions and translations of Abel Bergaigne, Étienne Aymonier, Louis Finot, Édouard Huber and other French scholars and of the work of R. C. Majumdar; newly presented, with minor corrections of texts and translations, together with calculations of given dates. Aachen: Shaker Verlag. Page 6.

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<p>The lettering is characteristic of the fifth century CE.</p>

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<p><milestone type="pagelike" unit="zone" n="A"/><label>Main</label><lb n="A1"/>namo devāya <space/> bhadreśvarasvāmi-pāda-prasādāT <space/> Agnaye tvā juṣṭaṁ kariṣyāmi

<lb n="A2"/>dharmma-mahārāja-śrī-bhadravarmmaṇo yāvac candrādityau tāvat putra-pautram bhokṣyati

<lb n="A3"/>pr̥thiv<unclear>ī</unclear><supplied reason="omitted">ṁ</supplied> prasādāt k<choice><sic>ā</sic><corr>a</corr></choice>rmma-siddhir astu <g ref="sym:spiral-right" type="symbol">*</g></p>

<ab><milestone type="pagelike" unit="zone" n="B"/><label>Secondary</label><lb n="B1"/><hi rend="check">śivo dāso baddhyate</hi></ab>

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<!--

Daniel Balogh, email 2024-04-22:

I have no suggestions about the reading or interpretation, but would like to note that this is one of those cases where using textparts would seem appropriate to me. The two inscriptions are quite separate, A ends completely and is even terminated with a symbol in midline, while B is separate from it both spatially and in script size. If you do prefer using a pagelike partition, I'm OK with that since we made the deliberate decision to restrict textpart divs to a minimum, but a textpart div is what I would use for this.

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<lem>bhokṣyati</lem>

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<lem>pr̥thiv<unclear>ī</unclear><supplied reason="omitted">ṁ</supplied> prasādāt</lem>

<rdg source="bib:Bergaigne1893_01">pr̥thiv<choice><sic>i</sic><corr>ī</corr></choice>-prasādāt</rdg>

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<lem>śivo dāso baddhyate</lem>

<note>Bergaigne suggests as only possible alternative reading: <foreign>śivo dāso vaddhyo yaḥ</foreign>. In his footnote, Barth expresses a preference for reading <foreign>baddhyeta</foreign> and suggests that the first word could, perhaps, be read <foreign>śaivo</foreign>.</note>

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<!-- 2. -pautram bhokṣyati] -pautram mokṣyati ISCC.

3. pr̥thivi-] norm. pr̥thivī- (Bergaigne).

3. kārmma-] norm. karmma- (Bergaigne).</p> -->

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<p n="A">Homage to the God! By the grace of the feet of Bhadreśvarasvāmin, I shall make you agreeable to Fire. As long as the Sun and the Moon exist, so long will the sons and grandsons of the righteous <foreign>mahārāja</foreign> Śrī Bhadravarman enjoy <supplied reason="explanation"><foreign>bhokṣyati</foreign></supplied> the earth. By the grace <supplied reason="subaudible">of Śiva Bhadreśvara</supplied>, may <supplied reason="subaudible">this</supplied> ritual be successful.</p>

<p n="B">The servant, who is favorable, is bound.</p>

</div>

<p n="A">Reverence to God! By the favour of the feet of the Bhadreśvarasvāmin I shall make thee agreeable to Fire (<hi rend="italic">i.e.</hi>, sacrifice thee). So long as the Sun and the Moon endure, he (Agni) will save the sons and grandsons of Dharma-Mahārāja Śrī Bhadravarman. May the work (sacrifice) be successful through the grace of the earth</p>

<p n="B">Śiva, the slave is bound (to the post).</p>

</div>

<p n="A">1. Hommage au Dieu ! Par la faveur des Pieds du Seigneur Bhadreśvara, — je te rendrai agréable à Agni. 2. Tant que dureront le Soleil et la Lune, il sauvera les fils et les petits-fils du Grand roi de la Loi, Śrī-Bhadravarman. 3. Que par la faveur de la Terre, le sacrifice réussisse !</p>

<p n="B">Le Dāsa propitiatoire est attaché au poteau.</p>

</div>

<p>The allusion to Agni, god of fire, is probably connected with the fact that the rock wall bearing the inscription faces southeast, the direction associated with this god. The second person addressed here was perhaps another deity: compare the use of <foreign>tvayi</foreign> in <ref target="DHARMA_INSCIC00216.xml">C. 216</ref>.</p>

<!-- Dominic Goodall, email 2024-04-20:

Given your astute correction to bhokṣyati (which looks certain), I suspect that the third line actually began with pṛthivīṁ prasādāt, but it is impossible to tell from the contemporary photograph. The old plate is much more legible, but ambiguous to me on this point.

I would render “…so long will the sons and grandsons of the righteous mahārāja Śrī Bhadravarman enjoy (bhokṣyati) the earth (pṛthivī(ṁ)). By the grace [of Śiva Bhadreśvara], may [this] ritual be successful. The servant, who is favourable, is bound [to the sacrificial post].”

Of course one could imagine other interpretations of the final remark. Here's a wild one. We know of early scriptural tags to the effect that “Sadāśiva is the first of the bound souls” (paśur ādyaḥ sadāśivaḥ, pp. 117 and 264–265 of our Paramokṣanirāsakārikāvṛtti book), and “Compassion and Occlusion are the two bonds tying Sadāśiva” (anugrahatirobhāvau dvau pāśau sadāśive, Niśvāsa Nayasūtra 1.83cd), which seem to mean that Śiva's obligation to create and maintain the world for the benefit of other souls is a sort of bondage. On that analogy, we could imagine that this inscription refers to the god Śiva being “bound” to this spot as a “servant”, so that he must remain in the liṅga for the benefit of devotees.

--></div>

<p>First edited by Abel Bergaigne (<bibl rend="omitname"><ptr target="bib:Bergaigne1893_01"/></bibl>), along with facsimiles of the estampages collected by Étienne Aymonier. Re-edited here by Arlo Griffiths based on the same facsimiles.</p>

<!--

Estampage EFEO: nil.

Estampage BnF: 415 (54) et 415bis (54)

Photos: Tran Ky Phoung and Federico Barocco.

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