Pedestal from Trà Kiệu
Editors: Salomé Pichon, Arlo Griffiths.
Identifier: DHARMA_INSCIC00173.
Hand description:
Language: Sanskrit.
Repository: Campa (tfc-campa-epigraphy).
Version: (934784c), last modified (14faddc).
Edition
Face A.
⟨1⟩ <siddham>
I. Anuṣṭubh
yasya śokāt samutpannaṁ ślokaṁ brahmābhipū(jati)
ab[vi](ṣṇoḥ) puṅsaḥ purāṇasya manu(jasyā)tmarūpiṇaḥ
cdII. Anuṣṭubh
⟨2⟩ [rāmasya] (ca)ritaṁ kr̥ts[n]aṁ kr̥taṁ (yenābhisādhanaṁ)
abkaver ādyasya maharṣṣer vv(ā)lmīkeś cāvaner iha
cdFace B.
III. Anuṣṭubh
⟨1⟩ (pūjāsthānaṁ) punas tasya kr̥ta ⎼ Cy ⏓ ⏑ ⎼ ⏑ ⎼
abprakāśadharmmanr̥patis sarvvārigaṇasūdanaḥ
cdIV. Anuṣṭubh
⟨2⟩ vidyāśaktikṣamālakṣ(m)īkīrttidhairyya[guṇā]n(v)i(taḥ)
ab(jaya)ty eṣa jagatkāntaś śārade ntarite [v]i[dhau]
cdApparatus
⟨Ib⟩ ślokaṁ ⬦ ślokam Mus 1928.
⟨Ic⟩ puṅsaḥ ⬦ pumsaḥ Mus 1928 • Doubtless a printing error for puṁsaḥ.
⟨Id⟩ manu(jasyā)tma° ⬦ mānuṣasyātma° Mus 1928.
⟨IIa⟩ [rāmasya](ca)ritaṁ kr̥ts[n]aṁ ⬦ x x x x ritaṁ kr̥tyaṁ Mus 1928 • Our reading presupposes that this pāda is directly based on Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa 1.2.30a.
⟨IIb⟩ (yenābhisādhanaṁ) ⬦ yenābhiṣecanaṁ Mus 1928.
⟨IId⟩ cāvaner iha ⬦ śru ⏑ ⎼ r iha Mus 1928.
⟨IIIa⟩ sthānaṁ ⬦ °sthānam Mus 1928 • The word pūjāsthāna is attested in two other dedication inscriptions of the same king, viz. C. 79 and C. 136
⟨IIIb⟩ kr̥ta ⎼ Cy ⏓ ⏑ ⎼ ⏑ ⎼ ⬦ kr̥ta x x y ⏑ ⎼ ⏑ ⎼ Mus 1928 • Compared to Mus, we assume one akṣara less before and one more after the one bearing a subscript y, on the supposition that we may restore something like kr̥ta[vān] ya ....
⟨IIId⟩ sarvvāri° ⬦ sarvāri° Mus 1928.
⟨IVc⟩ (jaya)ty eṣa ⬦ x x ty eṣa Mus 1928.
⟨IVd⟩ [v]i[dhau] ⬦ [r]i[pau] Mus 1928 • It seems unlikely that the enemy would be equated with the autumn, as Mus’ reading implies. This is precisely the season associated with beauty of the moon (vidhu) due to its proverbial clear skies. The idea rather seems to be that the autumn moon itself would be eclipsed by the king.
Translation
Having restored here the place of worship for the primordial poet and great[est] sage of the earth, Vālmīki, from whose anguish was born the verse that Brahmā praised, (and) who has composed the complete, ... (abhisādhana?) acts of Rāma, the human own/bodily form of the ancient male, Viṣṇu, this king Prakāśadharman, who subdues all (worldly and internal) foes, who is cherished by the world (or: the goddess Earth), being endowed with the virtues of knowledge, power, forbearance, wealth, fame, and patience, is victorious as the beloved of [all] creatures, the autumnal moon having been eclipsed (by his glory)!
Bibliography
Secondary
[claeys-1927] Claeys, Jean-Yves. 1927. “Chronique: fouilles de Trà-Kiệu.” BEFEO 27, pp. 468–482. DOI: 10.3406/befeo.1927.4404. [URL]. Page 478.
[tkp-2000] Trần Kỳ Phương. 2000. “The wedding of Sītā: A theme from the Rāmāyaṇa represented on the Tra Kieu pedestal.” In: Narrative Sculpture and Literary Traditions in South and Southeast Asia. Edited by Marijke J. Klokke. Leiden: Brill, pp. 51–58. Pages 55–56.
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<head xml:lang="eng">Face A.</head>
<ab><lb n="1"/>
<g type="siddham"/></ab>
<lg met="anuṣṭubh" n="1">
<l n="ab"> yasya śokāt samutpannaṁ ślokaṁ brahmābhipū<unclear>jati</unclear></l>
<l n="cd"> <supplied reason="lost">vi</supplied><unclear>ṣṇoḥ</unclear> puṅsaḥ purāṇasya manu<unclear>jasyā</unclear>tmarūpiṇaḥ</l>
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<lg met="anuṣṭubh" n="2">
<l n="ab"><lb n="2"/> <supplied reason="lost">rāmasya</supplied> <unclear>ca</unclear>ritaṁ kr̥ts<supplied reason="lost">n</supplied>aṁ kr̥taṁ <unclear>yenābhisādhanaṁ</unclear></l>
<l n="cd"> kaver ādyasya maharṣṣer vv<unclear>ā</unclear>lmīkeś cāvaner iha</l>
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<lg met="anuṣṭubh" n="3">
<l n="ab"><lb n="1"/> <unclear>pūjāsthānaṁ</unclear> punas tasya kr̥ta ⎼ Cy ⏓ ⏑ ⎼ ⏑ ⎼ </l>
<l n="cd"> prakāśadharmmanr̥patis sarvvārigaṇasūdanaḥ </l>
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vidyāśaktikṣamālakṣ<unclear>m</unclear>īkīrttidhairyya<supplied reason="lost">guṇā</supplied>n<unclear>v</unclear>i<unclear>taḥ</unclear></l>
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<unclear>jaya</unclear>ty eṣa jagatkāntaś śārade ntarite <supplied reason="lost">v</supplied>i<supplied reason="lost">dhau</supplied>
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</div><div type="apparatus"><listApp><app loc="Ib"><lem>ślokaṁ</lem><rdg source="bib:Mus1928_01">ślokam</rdg></app><app loc="Ic"><lem>puṅsaḥ</lem><rdg source="bib:Mus1928_01">pumsaḥ</rdg><note>Doubtless a printing error for <foreign>puṁsaḥ</foreign>.</note></app><app loc="Id"><lem>manu<unclear>jasyā</unclear>tma°</lem><rdg source="bib:Mus1928_01">mānuṣasyātma°</rdg></app><app loc="IIa"><lem><supplied reason="lost">rāmasya</supplied><unclear>ca</unclear>ritaṁ kr̥ts<supplied reason="lost">n</supplied>aṁ</lem><rdg source="bib:Mus1928_01">x x x x ritaṁ kr̥tyaṁ</rdg><note>Our reading presupposes that this <foreign>pāda</foreign> is directly based on <ref>Vālmīki's Rāmāyaṇa</ref> 1.2.30a.</note></app><app loc="IIb"><lem><unclear>yenābhisādhanaṁ</unclear></lem><rdg source="bib:Mus1928_01">yenābhiṣecanaṁ</rdg></app><app loc="IId"><lem>cāvaner iha</lem><rdg source="bib:Mus1928_01">śru ⏑ ⎼ r iha</rdg><!-- <note>Our reading is merely an attempt to render what we see, and implies no understanding. The vowel before <foreign>r</foreign> seems to be an <foreign>e</foreign>, and there seems to be no space for <foreign>ai</foreign> or <foreign>o</foreign>. Perhaps one can read <foreign>cumaner</foreign> and emend this to <foreign>ca muner</foreign>; or perhaps one can read <foreign>cāvaner</foreign></note> --></app><app loc="IIIa"><lem>sthānaṁ</lem><rdg source="bib:Mus1928_01">°sthānam</rdg><note>The word <foreign>pūjāsthāna</foreign> is attested in two other dedication inscriptions of the same king, viz. <ref target="DHARMA_INSCIC00079.xml">C. 79</ref> and <ref target="DHARMA_INSCIC00136.xml">C. 136</ref></note></app><app loc="IIIb"><lem>kr̥ta ⎼ Cy ⏓ ⏑ ⎼ ⏑ ⎼</lem><rdg source="bib:Mus1928_01">kr̥ta x x y ⏑ ⎼ ⏑ ⎼</rdg><note>Compared to Mus, we assume one akṣara less before and one more after the one bearing a subscript <foreign>y</foreign>, on the supposition that we may restore something like <foreign>kr̥ta<supplied reason="lost">vān</supplied> ya ...</foreign>.</note></app><app loc="IIId"><lem>sarvvāri°</lem><rdg source="bib:Mus1928_01">sarvāri°</rdg></app><app loc="IVc"><lem><unclear>jaya</unclear>ty eṣa</lem><rdg source="bib:Mus1928_01">x x ty eṣa </rdg></app><app loc="IVd"><lem><supplied reason="lost">v</supplied>i<supplied reason="lost">dhau</supplied></lem><rdg source="bib:Mus1928_01"><supplied reason="lost">r</supplied>i<supplied reason="lost">pau</supplied></rdg><note>It seems unlikely that the enemy would be equated with the autumn, as Mus' reading implies. This is precisely the season associated with beauty of the moon (<foreign>vidhu</foreign>) due to its proverbial clear skies. The idea rather seems to be that the autumn moon itself would be eclipsed by the king.</note></app></listApp></div><div type="translation"><p>Having restored here the place of worship for the primordial poet and great[est] sage of the earth, Vālmīki, from whose anguish was born the verse that Brahmā praised, (and) who has composed the complete, ... (<foreign>abhisādhana</foreign>?) acts of Rāma, the human own/bodily form of the ancient male, Viṣṇu, this king Prakāśadharman, who subdues all (worldly and internal) foes, who is cherished by the world (or: the goddess Earth), being endowed with the virtues of knowledge, power, forbearance, wealth, fame, and patience, is victorious as the beloved of [all] creatures, the autumnal moon having been eclipsed (by his glory)!</p></div><div type="commentary"><p>The text alludes to, and even directly replicates phrases from, the Bālakāṇḍa of <ref><seg type="check">Vālmīki's Rāmāyaṇa</seg></ref>. See the observations of <bibl><ptr target="bib:Mus1928_01"/></bibl>. The new reading of stanza II presented here adds significantly to the extent of our poet's dependence on Vālmīki, and simultaneously removes the need to presume, as did Mus, that Vālmīki is being identified as Viṣṇu. For the significance of the expression <foreign>arigaṇa</foreign>, see the commentary on <ref target="DHARMA_INSCIC00137.xml">C. 137</ref>. Since the word <foreign>pūjāsthāna</foreign> in the inscriptions of Prakāśadharman seems to refer each time either to the inscribed pedestal itself or to the place where that pedestal was installed, we cannot follow the reasoning in <ptr target="bib:TranKyPhuong2000_01"/> identifying this ‘place of worship’ as the different and more famous pedestal from Trà Kiệu that is decorated with elaborate sculptural reliefs.</p><p>If <foreign>abhisādhanaṁ</foreign> is indeed the correct reading, perhaps it can be understood either as an adjective with the sense 'propitiating' (cf. Monier-Williams s.v. <foreign>abhisidh</foreign>) or as a noun, 'propitiation', in apposition to <foreign>caritaṁ</foreign>. We therefore tentatively propose interpreting this quarter-verse to mean: 'who composed, [as an act of] worship/propitiation, the complete Acts of Rāma'.</p></div><div type="bibliography"><p/><listBibl type="primary"><bibl/></listBibl><listBibl type="secondary"><bibl n="claeys-1927"><ptr target="bib:Claeys1927_01"/><citedRange unit="page">478</citedRange></bibl><bibl n="BCAI"><seg type="check">BCAI</seg></bibl><bibl n="tkp-2000"><ptr target="bib:TranKyPhuong2000_01"/><citedRange unit="page">55-56</citedRange></bibl><!-- <bibl xml:id="ECIC-III"><ptr target="cic-bibl:ECIC-III"/>: 447.</bibl> --></listBibl></div></body></text>
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Commentary
The text alludes to, and even directly replicates phrases from, the Bālakāṇḍa of Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa. See the observations of Mus 1928. The new reading of stanza II presented here adds significantly to the extent of our poet’s dependence on Vālmīki, and simultaneously removes the need to presume, as did Mus, that Vālmīki is being identified as Viṣṇu. For the significance of the expression arigaṇa, see the commentary on C. 137. Since the word pūjāsthāna in the inscriptions of Prakāśadharman seems to refer each time either to the inscribed pedestal itself or to the place where that pedestal was installed, we cannot follow the reasoning in Trần Kỳ Phương 2000 identifying this ‘place of worship’ as the different and more famous pedestal from Trà Kiệu that is decorated with elaborate sculptural reliefs.
If abhisādhanaṁ is indeed the correct reading, perhaps it can be understood either as an adjective with the sense ’propitiating’ (cf. Monier-Williams s.v. abhisidh) or as a noun, ’propitiation’, in apposition to caritaṁ. We therefore tentatively propose interpreting this quarter-verse to mean: ’who composed, [as an act of] worship/propitiation, the complete Acts of Rāma’.