Writing for Eternity: A Survey of Epigraphy in Southeast Asia

Abstract

Writing for Eternity:A Survey of Epigraphy in Southeast Asia Anton O. Zakharov Daniel Perret Paris: École française d'Extrême-Orient, 2018, 478 pp. (Études thématiques 30). ISBN 978-2-85539-150-2; ISSN 1269-8067 Epigraphy is a key source for reconstructing history, at least in the Southeast Asian context. The only chronicles or other written sources left by many local polities are inscriptions engraved on stone or metal. History of epigraphic studies in Southeast Asia began more than two centuries ago, but there are still few truly seriously [End Page 142] examined corpora of various local inscriptions. A well-known exception is the fundamental corpus of inscriptions of Cambodia initiated by the French scholar George Cœdés: his seminal Inscriptions du Cambodge (1937–66) still remains the reference book for all who study the field. Another notable exception is Inscriptions of Burma (1933-6) by Gordon Hannington Luce and U Pe Maung Tin. In 2011 the French École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) and the Ikatan Ahli Arkeologi Malaysia (Malaysian Archaeologists Association) launched a workshop 'Epigraphy of Southeast Asia' in Kuala Lumpur. After seven years, in 2018, the EFEO and Daniel Perret have published a comprehensive 'overview of epigraphy in Southeast Asia' (p. 7). Writing for Eternity offers a 'corpus' perspective on regional inscriptions and outlines the histories of epigraphic studies in Southeast Asia. The title of the book invokes the message of those who engraved the inscriptions on imperishable materials: the information preserved in them should survive forever, by grace of various gods, 'while the sun and the moon exist' as, for example, is claimed by the My Son inscription of King Sri Prakasadharman-Vikrantavarman C. 87 of 687 CE. Daniel Perret opens the volume with a substantial Introduction to the history of epigraphic researches in Southeast Asian states since Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles 'emphasise[d] the importance of inscriptions' for historical, linguistic and chronological studies of the Southeast Asian past (p. 14). Perret briefly overviews the corpora of inscriptions from Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Campa, and maritime Southeast Asia that make use of Indian or Indian-derived scripts, as well as those that use Chinese or Chinese-derived, Arabic or Arabic-derived, Japanese, Armenian, Hebrew, and Latin scripts. Many languages of epigraphy are still in use; therefore, new inscriptions in them appear daily. Perret outlines questions for further research: why materials for engraving inscriptions differ in various countries; what role was played by the colonial administration for epigraphic studies; how epigraphy interacts with contemporary politics and/or nationality of scholars; the role played by private collectors and independent researchers in the field; how epigraphy interacts with other scientific disciplines like history, archaeology, religious studies etc. (p. 43). Strangely enough, Perret's Introduction does not mention Ramesh Candra Majumdar's Inscriptions of Champa (1927) and Inscriptions of Kambuja (1953). Despite many faults in his translations of Campa and Cambodian inscriptions, the Indian scholar did offer new readings and conjectures after Louis Finot, Édouard Huber and other French scholars had published the inscriptions of Campa for the first time. Thus, Majumdar translated the Mỹ Sơn inscription C. 81 of 712 CE which Finot left without translation. The volume contains three parts. The first part, 'Corpora of Inscriptions in Indian Scripts and Local Variants', outweighs the others in the diversity of papers and occupies around two–thirds of the volume. 'Myanmar Epigraphy: Current State and Future Tasks' by Tilman Frasch summarizes data on inscriptions from the country and their studies in several parts. The first deals with the inscriptions in languages other than Burmese, i.e. in the Pyu language, Sanskrit, Tamil and Pali. Many Pali texts were written on gold folios and were citations from the Pali Buddhist canon. This tradition was [End Page 143] well-established during the Pyu times in the first millennium CE. These Pali texts were placed inside Buddhist stupa and functioned as a substitute for the Buddha's corporal relics. Sanskrit inscriptions in Myanmar were largely issued by the kings of the Candra Dynasty of Vesali in Rakhine (Arakan). During the Pagan Kingdom, Pali served a lingua franca for Buddhist monks from Pagan (Bagan) itself, Sri...