Hin Khon Inscription 1

Script

Post-Pallava

Date

13th-14th Buddhist century

Language

Sanskrit, Khmer

Face/Line

4 faces ; contains 69 lines of writing, face 1 contains 13 lines, face 2 and 3 contain 19 lines, face 4 contains 18 lines

Material

stone

Form

rectangle pillar

Size

40 cm. width ; 100 cm. height

Found at

Ban Hin Khon (unknown as to where it is today), Pak Thong Chai District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province

Exhibited

Ban Hin Khon (unknown as to where it is today), Pak Thong Chai District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province

Description

Professor George Coedes has explained that the Sanskrit inscription on face I and II belong to a monk who held the position of a royal monk. He constructed 4 stone Bai Sema, probably inclusive of this stone post with these inscriptions and carved pictures, and also a Vihāra for which he had donated a lot of things. It is clear that this royal monk was a prince who entered monkhood. Other chapters of the inscription involve only curses while the section in Khmer language has experienced heavy dilapidation. The royal monk was named ‘Upadhayāya’ and his holy place, which was probably situated here in Hinkhon, was named ‘Sraubrā’ or ‘Srobrā’, or ‘Srobrā-a’ as inscribed on another inscription. The inscription on the face II ends with the list of what the royal monk donated and the list lengthens into face III. The writing on face IV says that the royal monk was Chao (or Phra Chao) Nṛ pendrādhipativarman, the son of a nobleman whose name was almost the same. Both of them probably belonged to the local royal clan. The writing later mentions the demarcation of the area of which the name could be ‘Stuksvāy’, and the donation of this plot of land might have been inscribed in one of the previous chapters.

Reference

Edited by : The Inscriptions in Thailand Database Project Staffs (2553 B.E.), SAC, from :
1) G. Cœdès, “Piliers de Hĭn K‘ôn (K. 388, 389),” in Inscriptions du Cambodge vol. VI (Hanoi : Imprimerie d'Extrême-Orient, 1954), 73-79.
2) Georges Coedes, “121th-122th Plate, 2 inscriptions at Hin Khon, Pak Thong Chai District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province,” in The collection of inscriptions in Thailand part 4 : the inscriptions found in the north, northeast, east, and central parts of Thailand which are inscribed in letters of the languages of Thai, Khmer, Mon and Pali-Sanskrit (Phra Nakhon : The Committee on the Publication of Historical Documents, Office of the Prime Minister, OPM, 2513), 241-252 (in Thai).
3) Georges Coedes, “Hin Khon Inscription 1,” in The Inscriptions in Thailand volume 1 : Pallava and Post-Pallava Script, 12th-14th Buddhist century (Bangkok : The National Library of Thailand, NLT, 2529), 251-262 (in Thai).

Illustrations

Rubbing inscription picture from : The Inscriptions in Thailand volume 1 : Pallava and Post-Pallava Script, 12th-14th Buddhist century (Bangkok : The National Library of Thailand, NLT, 2529)