Ban Khok Sakaerat Inscription

Script : Ancient Khmer Language : Sanskrit-Khmer Date Material : 10 th cen. CE Green Sandstone Size bowl bru : width 26.5 cm. height 51 cms, thickness 8 cms. Registered member : N. R. 39 mi foupy offf both Provenace Ban Khok Sakaerat, Nakhon Ratchasima Province : 1. sripancasugatayadau srighananum (nu )vibhavakah 2 . srighanasca sudeba (va ) nam (nam ) sripadatar (tu ) nnamami tan 3 . ba (va)jasatva stusthah (stah ) san vo (bo ) dhisattvaprabhurvarah 4 . adharah sarvavu (bu )ddhanam tannamami vimuktaye 5 . srisamaje parayasya bhaktih sraddha ca nirmala 6 . tasya dasasya dasoham bhaveyam sarva janmasu 7 . ityajna paramaguroh srutva stutya namaskrta 8 . ukathya maya bhaktya srisamajanname sada 6 . jayantrapuranamadau chparrrransiti tatah param 10 . desastatra sthitastayi srisamantaprabhesvarah 11 . svai vo (ba )ddhabhayam hatva kambu (mbu ) je vu (bu ) ddhasasanam 12 . cakara drdhamadyapi tannamami punah punah 13 . acaracano (no ) bhagavaccumvi (ba) scaranah sucih pracuracesta () CC-0. P14 . vacya cyutavak vagmi (dha) mi jinapujanajapaparah Vrat Shastri Collection, New Delhi. Digitisd by S 3 Foundation USA

| 323 15 . bhagavaccampakapado gurupadadha (bha)kto bhivandita asaisadhaih ____16 . chpararansi svadhyapayita sthala svay skanesamam gatavan 17 . dharmmadhiddho bhagava jaddharanindrapuramghri ()ralamkrtava n 18 . dhiransudhanairdhanyo vo (bo )dhauviddhau dhautam hrdayam 16 . prajnaparamitanika tarkabhasyadivaridhim 20 . uttiryaguhya vrksete srantastattvaphalasinah 21 . varah dhanus sanjnako dhiro dhi (dhiman siddhantasisyahah (kah ) 22 . varanantri gurunantri gurum vande sada muda 23 . kasika kavyava (pa) yadi sijitaptamanah (nah ) piva (ba)n 24 . guhyamrtanciram homa japayo garasodyatah ___25 . astastaranedha (ndha ) sitasaptasukre tapasya mase sugatadikarcah 26 . tune pasnage bhagyavisesatirthe savrah dhanussu (su ) riratistha padu (da) yah 27 . srisakti kirtti devendra bhuyastas hrtermaya 92 28 . yairvijnatam hrtam sakya tkincid (da) tretyamutrahi 26 . cetphalame (ma)sti punyanam (nam ) jato ham kamvu (mbu )je drutam sa (sa) majalamkhyam 30 . ya deve trartham kurvas (s )tu nanyatha | abi (vi ) ca | anyapranidhayoneka 1. sripanicasugatayadau 2. Srignanasca sudeb (v)anami 3. b(v)ajrasatva stusth (ta)a:sa 4. adharah sarva v (b ) uddhanami 5. srisamaje parayasya 6. tasya dasasya dasohari 7. ityajna paramaguroh 8. ukathya maya bhaktya 9. jayantrapuranamadau 10. desas tatra sthitastayi srighananumvibhavakah sripradatar(f)nnamami tan riv(b)o dhisatvaprabhurvavah tannamami vimuktaye bhaktih sraddha ca nirmmala bhaveyam sarva janmasu srutva stutya namaskrta srisamajanname sada chparransititatah param srisamantaprabhesvarah tannamami punah punah ccunv(b)is caranassucih 11. svai v(b)oddhabhayam hatva kamv (b)uje v(b)uddhasasanam 12. cakara drdhamadyapi 13. acaracan(n)o bhagava pracuracesta(h)

. vacya cyutavak vagmi 15. bhagavaccampakapado bhivandita 16. chparransi svadhyapayita dhr(ar)mmi jinapujanajapaparah gurupadad (bh) akto asai saddhaih sthala svay skanesamam gatavan 17. dharmmidhiddho bhagava jaddharanindrapuran 18. dhiransudhanairdhanyo 19. prajnaparamitanika 20. uttiryya guhya vrksete 21. varah dhanus samjnako dhiro 22. varanantri gurunantri 23. kasikakavyavan(n)yadi 24. guhyamrtanciram homa ghriralankrtava(a)n v(b)odhau viddhau dhautam hrdayam tarkabhasyadivaridhim srantastattvaphalasinah dhiman siddhantasisyah(k)ah gurum vande sada muda sijitaptamana(a)h piv(b)an japayo garasodyatah 25. astastarane(nd)dhrasitasaptasukre sugatadikarccah tapasya mase 26. the pasnage bhagyavisesatirthe sa vrah dhanussuriratistha paduyah 27. srisakti kirtti devendra bhuyastas hrter maya 28. yairvijnatam hrtamm s(s)akya tkincid(a)tretyamutrahi 29. cetphalame(a)sti punyanam jatoham kamv(b)uje drutam sa(a)majalamkhyam 30. ya deve trartham kurvas(s) tu nanyatha/ab(p)ica/anya pranidhayoneka Translation b sv dongamang n gledd avoin avdici 1-2. First the five venerable Buddhas, (next) the manifestor of the Buddhist saints, the Bodhisattva among the deites to all these I pay obeisance. 3-4. To the good lord Bodhisattva called Vajrasattva (the sixth Bodhisattva) who is the mainstay of all the BudCC-0. Prof. Satydhas Snbow for salvation. Digitized by S 3 Foundation USA

5-6. 7-8. 9-10 Sanskrit Inscriptions of Thailand / 325 (I pray) I be born in birth after birth as the slave of the slave of the one who is highly devoted to Srisamaja (the illustrious Sangha) and has absolute (lit. clear) faith in him. This is the command of the Supreme Teacher, which, deserving of praise as it does, I listened and bowed to with praise in all devotion. I bow to the illlustrious Sangha all times. There is a country spread far and wide called Jayantrapura earlier and Chparransi later. The lord Samantaprabha. 11-12. rooted out the fear from Buddhism and consolidated the docrine of the Buddha in Cambodia even up to this time. I bow to him again and again. 13-14. The Venerable one who was of good conduct, who kissed the feet of (the images of the Lord Buddha), who was pure, orator, religious, intent on worshipping the Buddha, the muttering (of his name), engaged in a number of activities and shunning of slander in speech. D 15-16. Venerable Campakapada, devoted to his respected teacher, adored by was a teacher in Chparransi. The righteous one, bright in intellect, adorned the feet of Venerable Dharanindrapura. 17. 18. The wise one fortunate (in having) enough wealth, of clear heart. 19-20. Having crossed the ocean of Tarkbhasya and the like with the boat of Prajnaparamia took rest under a secret tree partaking of the fruit of Reality. 21. 22. 23. (There was one) of the name of Dhanus who was a pupil of Siddhanta, excellent, wise and of firm resolve/steadfast. Of these excellent three gurus I bow to (all the) three all the time in all happiness. Relishing (lit. drinking) the secret nectar for long in the form of the Kasika, the poetic compostions and so on, he CC-0. Prof. Who has won over the mind of connoisseurs engaged himof cogitized by S 3 Foundation USA

self in enjoying the Homa (sacrifices), Japa, (the muttering of prayers) and Yoga.to 25-26. Learned Dhanus set up images of the Buddha and others in the holy place of Bhagyavisesa in the Saka year 988 in h the month of Phalguna, on the seventh day of the bright fortnight. 27. Sri, Sakti, Kirti and the prominent deities I have 28. 29. 30. Notes drawn. Those who know they have drawn something from Sakya in this world as also the next. Were there to be the fruit of the meritorious deeds, may I be born (again) in Kambuja before long. Those two fulfill the objective, not otherwise. Moreover other secret agents many (?) Introductory The inscription is important in providing the reader an insight into the contemporary religious conditon. The Buddhism was under attack at the time. The Buddhists were scared. The ruler of the time Samantaprabha who controlled the vast domains called first Jayantrapura and later Chparransi did a death blow to the fear and put Buddhism on a strong footing in Cambodia. The writer of these lines had seen for himself many headless statues of the Budddha in temples and shrines, a grim reminder of the intense tussle between Bhrahmanism (the term Hinduism was not known then) and Buddhism. The entrenched Brahmanism could not brook the rise of Buddhism and its adherents resorted to vandalizing Buddhist statues. It was in this scenario that the ruler of the time took steps in lending his weight to Buddhism and firmly implanting it. Buddhasasanam drdham cakara. For this act of his the composer of the inscription offers him salutations again and again : CC-dam namami punah punah, New Delhi. Digitized by S 3 Foundation USA eade

It is for his strong belief in Buddhism that he begins his composition with obeisance to the five Buddhas he means probably the Bodhisattvas though he uses the term Sugata for them and the sixth Bodhisattva whom he calls B(V) jrasattva, the mainstay of all the Buddhas: adharah sarvabuddhanam. It is he who invokes immense devotion and transparent/ clear (with no specific mundane consideration whatsoever) faith. The author prays for being the slave of his slaves in birth after birth. There is reference in the inscription to three revered gurus: Cumbiscarana, Campakapada and Dharanindrapura. The composer gives his name which is Dhanus. He describes himself as the petty pupil (sisyaka) of one Siddhanta. These three gurus Dhanus describes as very learned having mastered the texts Prajnaparamita, Tarkabhasya and so on with their secrets out for them with firm grasp of their essence, tattvaphalasinah. Analysis: Textual and Linguistic The inscription has a number of orthographic errors. A number of them have been corrected in the brackets and the corrections shown against the incorrect ones. The more glaring of them are taken up here for critical notice. In line 18 dhiran stands isolated, not amenable to connection with any word in the sentence. It is better to take it as dhirah. In the same line vodhau viddhau should be bodhau viddho, pierced in Bodhi, pierced = entered deep. In line 19 prajnaparamitanika poses an interesting problem. Anika means the force, the army which is at odds with the extant construction. If nika could be emended as nauka it would yield a beautiful metaphor going well with the other metaphor of ocean varidhi, imposed on such texts as the Tarkabhasya etc. which was crossed, uttirya. The only anomaly in this case could be nauka remaining without case affix. The proper construction should have been-naukaya. But then the inscriptional Sanskrit being what it is. there is no unnaturalness about it.

Line 25 has the word arca in it. Normally it means worship. But in the present instance it should mean, an image* which well with atisthipat, 'set up'. goes There are some expressions which are difficult to make out. They are: ukathya (line 8)-the dictionaries list ukthya only which means praiseworthy but this would interfere with the metre with one syllable falling short, asaisadhaih (line 15), pasnage (line 26), samajalamkhyam (line 29). In the same line the sentence begins with cet which militates against the established practice. Lastly the word Srisamaja. The composer prays to be the slave of the slave of him who has intense devotion for Srisamaja: srisamaje para yasya bhaktih. In all probability what he means by this is the Sangha, the Buddhist Order. The expression sijitaptamanah in line 23 provides a shocking instance of a badly bruised text. It had given many anxious moments to the editor of the present volume. It is just a flash that led him to the likely correct reading. Tapta meaning tormented cannot go with Kasika, the poetic compositions and the like, Kavyavan(n)yadi. The reading here must have been tapta and siji might have been viji, the expression Vijitaptamanah going well with Dhanus in line 26 meaning who has won over the mind of connoisseurs, vijitam aptanam manah yena. V of vi has become here s while a of ta has been shortened as in the case of manah which should have been manah. With these emendations the line would read: Kasikakavyavanyadivijitaptamanah piv(b)an which makes all the sense. In line 20 the term srantah will have to be taken in the sense of visrantah. The gurus having crossed the ocean of Tarkabhasya etc. with the boat of Prajnaparamita took rest srantah = visrantah, visramam gatah, under the secret tree, guhyavrkse symbolizing the depth of the texts. Now, it was the time for them to enjoy the fruit, phalasinah, which was to them the essence, tattva of the texts that they had mastered.

In line 11 svai is nothing but a scibe's/ engraver's error for sa vai, sa referring to Samantaprabhesvara, immediately preceding it. This would also help the metre which is in the extant text one syllable short. The use of vrah in line 26 is rather interesting. It is the Sanskrit word vara which has come to assume the form of vra in Cambodian and Thai, pronounced invariably as phra as an honorific for divine beings and highly regarded dignitaries. Its occurrence in a Sanskrit inscription shows as to how sometimes the vernacular form of the words, even though derived from Sanskrit makes inroads into it. Footnote * For this interpretation of the word I am indebted to my esteemed friend Dr. Satya Vrat Varma who draws attention to the use of it in the Mahabhasya: Mauryair hiranyarthibhir arcah prakalpitah. lo l noitelle