Photograph of the pedestal section bearing inscription . Taken at Mỹ Sơn by Arlo Griffiths on .
Photograph of the pedestal section bearing inscription . Taken at Mỹ Sơn by Arlo Griffiths on .
Photograph of the pedestal section bearing inscription C. 80. Taken at Mỹ Sơn by Arlo Griffiths on 30 September 2009.
Photograph of EFEO estampage n. 2089.
Photograph of EFEO estampage n. 2089.
Photograph of EFEO estampage n. 2089.

C. 80 Pedestal at Mỹ Sơn

Please note: you are reviewing a preprint version of this publication. Contents here may change significantly in future versions. Scholars with specific interests are urged to consult all cited bibliography before using our texts and translations or drawing other significant conclusions.

Support Round section of a multi-layered pedestal; sandstone; we have not recorded dimensions, but Finot 1904b: 929 has recorded the following for the round pedestal, originally comprising three sections: h. 95 cm, diameter 95-117. The height recorded must be that of the pedestal as a whole. The pedestal is decomposed nowadays, and the single section that is inscribed is significantly less high.

Text One line written in Sanskrit.

Date 6th century Śaka (7th CE).

Origin Site of Mỹ Sơn (Quảng Nam).

The three sections composing the pedestal were found overturned in front of monument A10 at Mỹ Sơn, before 1904, and the inscription on one of them was listed as number VII in the list of inscriptions of this site (Finot 1904b: 929; see also the table in that article; and Parmentier 1909: 357). We identified the stone placed against the North wall of the A group at Mỹ Sơn in 2009, as the one bearing local inventory number 03MSA941 (see ECIC III: 458).

Edition(s) First published, with French translation, in Finot 1904b: 929; whence, with translation into English, in Majumdar 1927: 36; whence Golzio 2004: 28-29. Re-edited from the inked EFEO estampage, with new translation, in ECIC V: 424, whence the present edition.

Facsimiles

  • Estampage: EFEO 333
  • Estampage: EFEO n. 2089

The following text was edited by Dominic Goodall and Arlo Griffiths.

namas suvarṇākṣāya
 Anuṣṭubh
campāvanibhujārcceyaṁ kāñcanī tatvavedinā
vikrāntavarmmaṇā bhaktyā sthāpitā pārameśvarī ||

d ||(vac.) Finot.

Translations

English

Homage to the Golden-eyed (Śiva)! This golden image of Parameśvara (Śiva) was piously erected by Vikrāntavarman, king of Campā, knower of truth.

French

We cite Finot's translation of 1904:

Hommage au [dieu] aux yeux d'or! Le roi de Campā Vikrāntavarman qui connaît la vérité a érigé pieusement cette statue d'or de Parameśvara.

Commentary

Our translation is essentially the same as those proposed by Finot and Majumdar. The name Suvarṇākṣa (or Svarṇākṣa) occurs both as a sanctuary and as an epithet of Śiva in Indian Sanskrit sources. On its use as the name of a Śaiva sanctuary, see for instance the old Skandapurāṇa, on which, Bisschop 2006: 221. A myth explaining why Śiva himself came to bear the name, after creating a golden-eyed goddess, is recounted in this text at 9.22-29 (see Adriaensen, Bakker & Isaacson 1998). One might therefore speculate as to whether the statue whose manufacture this inscription records was one of the goddess (Parameśvarī) rather than of Śiva (Parameśvara) himself. Perhaps the incipit makes this less likely.

Notes

  1. Recorded under this number in the registration of Mỹ Sơn as a Unesco World Heritage Site