Stela of Vat Kiri Sdech Kong, Kompong Speu (K. 1419), 555 Śaka

Editor: Kunthea Chhom.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSCIK01419.

Summary: The text is entirely in Sanskrit. It consists of twenty lines forming eleven stanzas. Arranged in two columns, the Sanskrit verses are carved in a calligraphic manner and in three prosodic meters: Upajāti of Triṣṭubh (st. I, II, IV, VI, VIII, IX, XI), Indravajrā (st. III, V, VII) and Upendravajrā (st. X). The first three stanzas contain an invocation of the gods Śiva, Śiva-Viṣṇu and Viṣṇu. Stanza IV praises king Īśānavarmman as king of kings. Stanzas V–VIII present the protagonist, a king’s servant ( bhr̥tya ) of the king called Vrau Etta, and record his installation of several divine images and donations of paddy-fields and cattle. An imprecation is pronounced in stanza IX. The last two stanzas specify that the installation of an image of Hara-Kṛṣṇa (Śiva-Viṣṇu) by the founder (Vrau Etta) happened on the first night of the lunar month of Caitra (March-April) of year 555 in the Śaka era, i.e. in 633 CE.

Language: Sanskrit.

Repository: Khmer (tfc-khmer-epigraphy).

Version: (ad5ad7e), last modified (cfb568b).

Edition

I. Upajāti

⟨1⟩ jayaty adhīśas sura-mauli-kūṭa-

a

cūḍā-maṇīn visphurad-unmayūkhān·

b

⟨2⟩ vijitya tan-mūrddhasu yasya pāda-

c

nakha-prabhāviṣkr̥ta-candra-kāntiḥ (||)

d
II. Upajāti

⟨3⟩ śrīśāna-viṣṇū jayatas sureśau

a

yayoś śarīrārddha-samāgamena

b

⟨4⟩ Āvir-vvabhūvāmara-māṇaveṣu

c

vibhutvam ekatvam anekatā ca ||

d
III. Indravajrā

⟨5⟩ vaktreṇa dhīś śrīr urasā ca padbhyāṁ

a

(bh)ūḫ pālitāsmat-patinātibhāgyāt·

b

⟨6⟩ kṣiptā hi dūraṁ yad ahan tv adhanyā

c

yaṁ kīrttir ud-diśya vaded itīva ||

d
IV. Upajāti

⟨7⟩ samudra-paryyanta-suvarṇṇa-bhūmi-

a

pr̥ṣthaika-rājendra-parākrama-śrīḥ

b

⟨8⟩ samasta-sāmanta-śirodhr̥tājñaś

c

śrīśānavarmmā jayati kṣitīśaḥ ||

d
V. Indravajrā

⟨9⟩ tasyāpi bhr̥tyas samadhatta saṁjñāṁ

a

vrau Etta Ity ātmagurupradiṣṭāṁ

b

⟨10⟩ tatpūrvvaje sthāpitavaty anādiṁ

c

śrīpuṣkareśaṁ prathamaṁ surāṇāṁ ||

d
VI. Upajāti

⟨11⟩ guros svabhaktyā bhaginīṁ murāreḥ

a

śrīśarvvagovindam atiṣṭhipat saḥ

b

⟨12⟩ svayambhudevī-bhava-keśavānāṁ

c

tenāpi saṁsthāpita Ekabhogaḥ (||)

d
VII. Indravajrā

⟨13⟩ teṣāṁ surāṇām iha bhr̥tya-saṁkhyā

a

saṁpiṇḍitā syāt triśatī gavāñ ca

b

⟨14⟩ sā triṅśatī kṣetraka-māhiṣāṇāṁ

c

pratyekam ārāma Iti trayāṇāṁ ||

d
VIII. Upajāti

⟨15⟩ Etāni go-bhū-dhana-pūrvvakāṇi

a

sarvvāṇi dharmmārttham upārjjitāni

b

⟨16⟩ pade kulānāṁ sva-kulaika-dīpo

c

vrau Etta-nāmādita devatābhyaḥ ||

d
IX. Upajāti

⟨17⟩ yajvā trayāṇām iha devatānāṁ

a

datvā dhana(ṁ) yo harati sma lobhāt·

b

⟨18⟩ saha prasūtyā niraye nimajjed

c

āsaṁplavāt sthāvara-jaṅgamānāṁ (||)

d
X. Upendravajrā

⟨19⟩ samā śakendrasya śareṣu-vāṇair

a

vvinirggatā caitra-sitādirātriḥ

b

⟨20⟩ yadāśvīnīśīta-karo ’nuyātrī

c

tulodayo maithuna-bhāga-yukta(ḥ ||)

d
XI. Upendravajrā

⟨21⟩ mīnāja-vīnā-jhaṣa-mārgga-kumbha-

a

cāpa-kramasthāś śubha-lagnadās te

b

⟨22⟩ [sū]ryyādayaś śrī-hara-kr̥ṣṇa-mūrttim

c

atiṣṭhipat tāṁ vidhineha yajvā (||)

d

Translation by Chhom 2019

I
Victorious is the Supreme Lord [Śiva], the radiance of whose toenails (pādanakhaprabhā) — vanquished the quiveringly radiant crest-jewels of the multitude of diadems of the gods — made moonlight to appear (āviṣkr̥tacandrakāntiḥ) on their heads (tanmūrddhasu).
II
May the two Lords of the gods, (namely) Śrī Īśāna and [Śrī] Viṣṇu, be victorious! By the uniting of their body-halves, immanence, oneness and plurality are made manifest among gods and mortals.
III
About him (yam uddiśya), Fame seemed to say (vaded itīva): “With his mouth, this Lord of ours protects Wisdom; with his chest Śrī; with his feet Earth, because of his great good fortune; but (tu) I am unlucky (adhanyā), because (yad) I have evidently (hi) been cast (kṣiptā) far aside (dūram)”.
IV
Victorious is the lord of the earth Śrī Īśānavarman, whose commands were carried on the head by all the vassal kings, whose glory (°śrīḥ) and heroism (°parākrama°) are those of Indra who is the unique sovereign (°ekarāja°) on the surface (°pr̥ṣṭha°) of the golden earth (°suvarṇabhūmi°), up to the oceans (samudraparyanta°). or whose glory (°śrīḥ) and heroism (°parākrama°) are those of a king of kings who is alone on the surface (°pr̥ṣṭha°) of the golden earth (°suvarṇabhūmi°), up to the oceans (samudraparyanta°). or whose glory (°śrīḥ) and heroism (°parākrama°) are those of a king of kings who is alone on the surface (°pr̥ṣṭha°) of the earth, which is of beautiful color (°suvarṇa°), up to the oceans (samudraparyanta°). or whose glory (°śrīḥ) and heroism (°parākrama°) are those of a king of kings who is alone on the surface (°pr̥ṣṭha°) of the land [which is named] Suvarṇa up to the oceans (samudraparyanta°).
V
Now (api) a servant of his received (samadhatta) the name Vrau Etta, which was dictated by his own spiritual master, after his (the servant’s) elder brother had installed Śrī Puṣkareśa, the one without beginning and the first among the gods.
VI
Out of personal devotion (svabhaktyā) toward his spiritual master, he installed the sister (bhaginīm) of Murāri [as well as] Śrī Śarva and [Śrī] Govinda. He also (api) established single enjoyment [of offerings] (ekabhogaḥ) among (these three deities, namely) Svayambhudevī, Bhava and Keśava.
VII
‘For these [three] gods [installed] here, the number of servants, [once] added up together (saṁpiṇḍitā), shall be three hundred, and [the same too] of cows; that [number] for the fields and buffaloes is thirty; for each of the three individually (pratyekam) there is a garden.’
VIII
A unique lamp in his own lineage, [the man] named Vrau Etta gave all these things, beginning with cows, land and wealth, to the gods in [this] place belonging to good families (pade kulānām), offered up (upārjitāni) for the sake of the meritorious foundation (dharmārtham).
IX
After the donor (yajvan) has given wealth to the three gods here, whoever, out of greed, will have (sma) taken away (harati) [this wealth] will fall into hell along with his descen-dants [and remain there] until the destruction of movable and immovable beings.
X–XI
When the year of the Śaka king had emerged from the (5) arrows (śara), the (5) arrows and the (5) arrows, [when it was] the first night of the waxing moon of Caitra, [when] the Moon was in Aśvinī, the ascendant partly linked with Gemini (maithuna) in Tula, [while] the Sun and other planets (which make a moment auspicious, i.e. Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn) were (respectively) in Pisces (mīna), Aries (aja), Vīnā (?), Pisces (jhaṣa), Capricorn (mārga), Aquarius (kumbha) and Sagittarius (cāpa) — [that is when] the donor properly installed the images of Śrī, Hara and Kr̥ṣṇa here.

Commentary

I
In Angkorian epigraphs, the image of vassal kings bowing down at feet of the king and the light of the latter’s toenails mixing with the light from their crest-jewels is widely used.
III
For this construction with yad, compare, e.g., Raghuvaṁśa 3.25: yad āha dhātryā prathamoditaṁ vaco yayau cāṅgulim | abhūc ca namraḥ praṇipātaśikṣayā pitur mudaṁ tena tatāna so ’rbhakaḥ, “Because he spoke the words his nurse had spoken first, because he walked hanging on her finger, and because he bent when he was taught to bow, the child brought joy to his father.”
IV
The expression śrīśānavarmmā jayati kṣitīśaḥ is also found in the second stanza of K. 80 (7th century CE, Vat Prei Veng/ Svay Chno, Dangko District, Phnom Penh). In that stanza, King Īśānavarman is described as a glorious king of three kings (bhūpatrayasyoruyaśo vidhātā), a possessor of three cities (bhoktā nagaratrayasya) and comparable to Lord Hara (Śiva). We also learn from the last two stanzas, st. III and IV, that Vidyādeva established a hermitage (āśrama) and offered servants, cows and plantations of areca and coconut. This inscription seems to be composed in the same spirit as the one we edit here. A systematic study of the inscriptions under the reign of King Īśānavarman such as K. 80 is a desideratum.
IV
In Khmer version, we propose other two possible interpretations as follows: whose glory (°śrīḥ) and heroism (°parākrama°) are those of a king of kings who is alone on the surface (°pr̥ṣṭha°) of [the land called] Suvarṇabhūmi up to the oceans (samudraparyanta°). or whose glory (°śrīḥ) and heroism (°parākrama°) are those of a king of kings who is alone on the surface (°pr̥ṣṭha°) of the earth [][which is in the] Suvarṇabhūmi up to the oceans (samudraparyanta°). For a historiography of the term Suvarṇabhūmi, see our comment in the Khmer version of this article. In this volume, Vong Sotheara also discusses this term at length from a historical point of view.
V
Vrau Etta may be a name with a beneficent connotation. For a discussion on this name, see Michel Antelme’s article in Khmer in the next issue of Kambuja Suriya.
V
According to D. Goodall (personal communication, December 2019), this seems to be the name of a Viṣṇu with a Śaiva-sounding element, see the remaks of A. Griffiths (2005) on the Vaiṣṇava theonym Tribhuvaneśvara in K. 1214. The installation of the god Puṣkareśa is also mentioned in two contemporary inscriptions, K. 121 (638 śaka, Preah Theat Kvan Pir, Kratie province) and K. 765 (601 śaka, Prasat Neang Khmau, Takeo province).
VI
D. Goodall (personal communication, December 2019) thinks that Svayambhudevī is the name of the goddess, who is presented as the sister of Murāri, perhaps because she is thought of as Subhadrā (and the last stanza might be taken to suggest that the Viṣṇu is a Kr̥ṣṇa here), but perhaps also because Viṣṇu gives Pārvatī to Śiva when Śiva marries her (as represented, e.g., in South Indian Kalyāṇasundaramūrtis), and the goddess, both in Cambodia and in Tamil Nadu, bears cakra and śaṅkha (even when she appears in Śaiva contexts).
XI
It is most probable that vīnā is to be corrected into (vīṇā) which generally means ‘Indian lute’ but in astrology, according to M. Monier-Williams (2005: 1005) it can refer to a particular configuration of the stars (when all planets are situated in seven houses). Nevertheless, the meaning does not seem to fit in this context, where a name of a zodiac sign is expected.

(5) The shape of bhū of the word bhūḫ is different from what we see in lines 4 and 15, which can be explained as due to limitation of space in the present context; anyhow, the consonant part seems to have been engraved with hesitation, leading to its imperfect realization.

(20) Regarding the word yadāśvīnīśītakaro, for the meter and for the sense we need to read śvi here.

Bibliography

Edited by Kunthea Chhom in Kambuja Suriya Journal (2019, pp. 48–53) with an English translation.

Primary

[KS] Chhom, Kunthea. 2019. “សិលាចារឹកវត្តគិរីស្តេចគង់​K. 1419 សេចក្តីប្រែនិងសេចក្តីអត្ថាធិប្បាយ [silacārik vatt girī stec gaṅ' K. 1419 secktī prae niṅ secktī atthādhippāy (Edition and Annoted Translation of K. 1419)].” Kambuja Suriyā Special volume 2019, pp. 35–54. [URL]. Pages 48–53.