Prasat Neak Buos inscription engraved on the Southern doorjamb of the L sanctuary (K. 341-S, 596 Śaka)

Metadata

Current Version:  draft, 2023-11-08Z

Editors:   George Cœdès, Dominic Goodall and Chollet Chloé.

DHARMA Identifier: INSCIK00341-S

Hand Description:

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Additional Metadata

No metadata were provided in the table for this inscription

Edition

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Apparatus

¹ sthānumatasthānaṁ ◇ sthānumatā sthānan GC • For sthānu-, understand sthāṇu-. — ¹ sthitvā [1×] ◇ sthi ⏓ ⏓ GC — ¹ s(manthāna)nāma ◇ ⏓ ⏓nāma GC
² tenā(t)ra śivapādākhyo ◇ tenāgraśivapādākhyo GC — ² bhaviṣyas te [.]u ◇ bhavīṣyan teṣu GC • The ste ligature is quite clear on the inscription photographs, while the ṣ of teṣu does not appear clearly either on the rubbing or in the photographs. We therefore prefer to report an illegible consonant to which the vowel u is attached. — ² Upāsya (si)[d](dhi) ya [1×] nāṁ ◇ ⏓ ⏑ ‒ ‒ ⏓ GC — ² pāvanaM ◇ pāvana GC • The final consonant, miniaturized, is engraved a little below the line. This palaeographic phenomenon occurs in only one other pre-Angkorian inscription, found at Wat Phra Ngam (Thailand) and recently published in Thai (Weeraprajak 2020, p. 4). This particularity is however present in other South-East Asian epigraphic corpora, such as the Pyu inscriptions (2017: page 84, § 1.5.3.15).
³ pivatā(m) saṁme ◇ pivatāṅ same GC — ³ -(pade) [dhr]u[vam] ◇ ⏑ ‒ dhruvam GC • While we think we can read pade, we only see the the vowel u below the word that Coedès has transcribed dhruvam. — ³ grava [.]i[.]pati ◇ ⏓ ⏓ ⏓ ⏓ ⏑ GC • We could understand viṭpati or dikpati. — ³ na val(īti) ◇ ⏓ ⏓ ⏓ ⏓ ti GC

Translation into French by Dominic Goodall

De ce (yatra… tasya) lieu où les deux [empreintes de] pieds (padadvayaṁ) restent visibles (dr̥śyamānaṁ) — le lieu [où elles se trouvent] étant [ainsi] approuvé par Sthāṇu (sthānumatasthānaṁ) —, s’étant tenu debout [là], avec Durgā (?), le nom Manthāna est proclamé.

Ainsi (tena), une montagne (bhūdharaḥ) nommée Śivapāda restera (bhaviṣyaḥ) ici (atra). Ceux qui l’honorent (upāsya), et la gardent aussi à l’esprit (smaratām api) purification (pāvanam ?) [...] pouvoirs (siddhi ?) [...]

Là même, de la même manière, ceux qui boivent [... obtiendront] le ciel des dieux [...] tel est le [...] notoire.

Translation into French by Cœdès 1937-1966

La place où l’Immuable (Śiva) a manifesté ses deux pieds [...] de celui qui est venu de loin [...] le nom est proclamé.

Par lui, la montagne nommée Śivapāda antérieur sera pour ceux qui la vénèrent [...] purification, même pour ceux qui se souviennent [...]

Là même, de la même manière, ceux qui boivent [... obtiendront] le ciel des dieux [...] tel est le [...] notoire.

Commentary

Regarding the ancient name of the temple: Cœdès considered the hapax agraśivapāda (“the Earlier Śivapāda”) as the equivalent expression of the Old Khmer śivapādapūrva “the Eastern Śivapāda”, encountered in other inscriptions from Prasat Neak Buos and antonym of the expression śivapādapaścima “the Western Śivapāda”, which refers to Prasat Ta Muean Thom. The Sanskrit term agra does not normally have the meaning of ’eastern, east’ which might make it equivalent to the word pūrva. The form of the consonant t being particularly ambiguous, we do not exclude the reading proposed by Cœdès.

Bibliography

First edited by Gœrge Cœdès (1937-1966: volume 6, pages 23–26) with a French translation of the whole inscription; the Sanskrit part is re-edited here by Chloé Chollet and Dominic Goodall from photographs (2020: pages 390–391).

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