Photograph of the pedestal bearing inscription . Taken at Mỹ Sơn by Arlo Griffiths on .
Photograph of the pedestal bearing inscription . Taken at Mỹ Sơn by Arlo Griffiths on .
Photograph of the pedestal bearing inscription C. 97. Taken at Mỹ Sơn by Arlo Griffiths on 27 September 2009.
Photograph of EFEO estampage n. 331.
Photograph of EFEO estampage n. 331.
Photograph of EFEO estampage n. 331.

C. 97 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, and neither have previous scholars.

Text One line written in Sanskrit.

Date 6th century Śaka (7th CE).

Origin Site of Mỹ Sơn (Quảng Nam).

The pedestal composed of several circular sections was apparently in situ, between monuments E6 and E7 at Mỹ Sơn, before 1904, and the inscription on one of the sections was listed as number VIII in the list of inscriptions of this site (Finot 1904b: 930; see also the table in that article; and Parmentier 1909: 419). We identified the pedestal still in situ at Mỹ Sơn in 2009, as the one bearing local inventory number 03MSE846/Đ.7321 (see ECIC III: 458).

Edition(s) First published, with French translation, in Finot 1904b: 930; whence, with translation into English, in Majumdar 1927: 36; whence Golzio 2004: 29. Re-edited from the inked EFEO estampage, with new translation, in ECIC V: 424-427, whence the present edition.

Facsimiles

  • Estampage: EFEO 342
  • Estampage: EFEO n. 331

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

 Anuṣṭubh
sthāpito rājasiṅhena śrīmadvikrāntavarmmaṇā
vāmeśvarasya kośo yaṁ stheyād ā bhuvanasthiteḥ ||

a rāja° ◇ the estampage seems to show rājā, which would be unmetrical and very unlikely for a number of other reasons too. Rather than presuming an error, we assume that the stone has suffered slight damage here, so that the impression of an ā-vocalization after j given by the estampage is misleading. — d stheyād ◇ stheyān Finot. The form ending in -n supposed by Finot (and retained unquestioned by Majumdar) could be interpreted (as the comparative form of the adjective sthiraḥ), but would be awkward. Cf. also C. 96, st. XXX. — || ◇ (vac.) Finot.

Translations

English

This sheath (kośa) for (the liṅga of) Vāmeśvara was placed by the illustrious Vikrāntavarman, lion among kings. May it remain as long as will remain the earth!

French

We cite Finot's translation of 1904:

Par le lion des rois Vikrāntavarman a été érigé ce kośa de Vāmeśvara, inébranlable aussi longtemps que l'existence du monde.

Commentary

This inscription records the installation of a liṅga-sheath of a Śiva called Vāmeśvara. Finot and Majumdar take this name to be no more than a synonym of Śiva. But in his notes on the inscriptions of Campā, kindly put at our disposal, Alexis Sanderson has observed that it must be the name of the deity of a specific liṅga, surely that listed with Īśāneśvara, Śambhubhadreśvara and Prabhāseśvara in C. 81, face c, ll. 1-3 (see Đà Nẵng Catalog, p. 227-228).

Secondary Bibliography

Notes

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