The THREE Inscriptions of

INDRAVARMAN
Some portions from https://www.bharatkambuja.org
Dr.Uday Dokras

Khmer inscriptions are a corpus of post-5th century historical texts engraved on materials such
as stone and metal ware found in a wide range of mainland Southeast
Asia (Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Laos) and relating to the Khmer civilization. The study
of Khmer inscriptions is known as Khmer epigraphy.Khmer inscriptions are the only local written
sources for the study of ancient Khmer civilization.More than 1,200 Khmer inscriptions of
varying length have been collected. There was an 'explosion' of Khmer epigraphy from the
seventh century, with the earliest recorded Khmer stone inscription dating from 612 AD
at Angkor Borei.Beyond their archeological significance, Khmer inscriptions have become a
marker of national identity
The languages used on Khmer inscriptions are either ancient Khmer or sanskrit while a few have
also been found in pali, though the latter are no older than the 14th century. The oldest inscription
in Sanskrit is from the 5th century and the oldest one in ancient Khmer is from the 7th century.
[2]
Apart from the stele of Phimanakas, there are no bilingual steles in Cambodia properly
speaking; the part in ancient Khmer does not translate but sometimes paraphrases the narrative
part in sanskrit with more material and technical details.[1]
Inscriptions in Sanskrit
Sanskrit inscriptions, from the 5th to the 14th century, are found all over Cambodia, and they are
proof of the flourishing state of Sanskrit learning. These inscriptions exhibit the knowledge of
different metres and the most developed poetic rules and conventions of rhetoric and prosody.
Khmer inscriptions are more philosophical than the mangala of Indian inscriptions. Their
language and grammar is also more correct than most Indian inscriptions.

Khmer Inscription K-127: the significance

of this inscription made in AD 683, is that it indicates that at present knowledge, the first zero is an
ancient Khmer invention, while the first known use of a numerical zero in India was dated to the mid-
ninth century, an era that coincided with the Arab Caliphate.
The number of such inscriptions written in ornate kavya style is the larger than in any other
country in Southeast Asia. Khmer inscriptions in Sanskrit make us of the Shaka era and
the decimal system in number first noticed in the 7th century, including the number O.
Sanskrit is used in Khmer inscriptions as the language of the gods, especially for poems and
prayers offered in their honour. Their structure is fixed: after an introductory invocation of the
divinity, comes the praise of the founder or benefactor of the sanctuary before ending
with imprecatory verses aimed at anyone who would not protect the premises of the temple and
wishing them the chastisement of hell.
Useful archeological information is most often found in the central part, which often reveals the
name of the ruling king, and the dates of his reign.
Inscriptions in ancient Khmer
Ancient Khmer first appears on inscriptions at the end of the 7th century. Khmer inscriptions
written in ancient Khmer are most often in prose and are usually a more or less detailed inventory
of the offerings received by a sanctuary. These inscriptions, such as the Grande Inscription
d'Angkor, reveal precious information about the culture of Cambodia. Their content has also been
found at least in one instance to match that of the Royal Chronicles of Cambodia.
It is believed that the population expressed some sort of resistance with regard to the Sanskrit
language, which necessitated the use of indigenous language to make known the royal orders and
the charters which affected the life of the autochthonous populations.
Khmer inscriptions use an alphabet stemming from Southern India. This early alphabet evolved
into the actual form of Khmer. At the end of the 9th century, King Yasovarman I attempted to
introduce a new form of script probably from Northern India but this attempt to not last beyond
his own reign.
Inscriptions in Pali
Pali epigraphy in Khmer provinces is extremely scarce; only a dozen Pali inscriptions have
been found, engraved in a span of twelve centuries.
There is no trace of Pali texts proper in ancient Cambodian epigraphy, except epigraphs
consisting of the formula: Ye dhamma. The presence of Pali in Khmer epigraphy effectively
replaced that of Sanskrit from the 14th century onwards and it was regarded as a sacred
language.
Indravarman I
Indravarman I was a ruler of Khmer Empire who reigned from Hariharalaya between
877/78 and 889/890 CE.According to the inscriptions of the Práḥ Kô temple, desecrated on
Monday, 25 January 880 AD (Foundation stele K. 713 a) three pairs of temple towers for
three deceased kings and their queens were built by him as a kind of "memorial temple", as
can be seen by the inscriptions on the door frames of the towers: The central towers were
dedicated to Jayavarman II under his posthumous name Parameśvara and his
queen Dharaṇīndradevī (K. 320a), the northern ones for Rudravarman (consecrated
as Rudreśvara) and Rajendradevī (K. 318a), his mother's parents, and the southern towers
for Pṛthivīndravarman (desecrated as Pṛthivīndreśvara) and Pṛthivīndradevī (K. 315 a) and
K. 713 b).
Indravarman I's wife, Indradevi, was a descendant of the royal families
of Sambhupura, Vyadhapura, and Aninditapura (Funan).
Prthivindravarman & Rudravarman
Actually the classical succession of kings in the 9th century was disputed by some
epigraphists such as Kamaleswar Bhattacharya and Karl-Heinz Golzio. Since the poor
activity and records of Jayavarman III, and the presence of the dedicated towers of Preah Ko,
they had interpreted some Sanskrit inscriptions at Roluos as proof of existence of two kings
between him and Indravarman: Rudravarman and Pṛthivīndravarman.
According to the Lolei inscription K. 324 of Indravarman's successor Yaśovarman I, dated 8
July 893 AD, Rudravarman was the younger brother of the mother of 'Dharaṇīndradevī, the
queen consort of Jayavarman II and mother of Jayavarman III (whom Indravarman
mentioned under his posthumous name Viṣṇuloka in his Bakong inscription K. 826 stanza
XXX, dated 881/82 AD.
Although Michael Vickery, has pointed out that they are not mentioned in later times and that
these "-varman" ancestors of Indravarman may easily be explained as posthumous upgrading
of the king's parents, which perhaps already occurred within their lifetimes, the following
facts should be taken into account:
1) The inscriptions of the 9th century gave an account of events, i.e. genealogies and relative
chronologies, referring to that century itself;
2) One should have great doubts concerning the reliability of later inscriptions that record
wrong reign dates and stories about family connections never heard of before, which was
pointed out especially by Vickery;
3) later inscriptions omitted very often not only these two kings, but also other important
kings (Jayavarman IV mentioned only his three predecessors; Rājendravarman II, the founder
of a new dynasty, has omitted in his Bàksĕi Čaṃkrŏṅ inscription K. 286, dated 23 February
948, all his predecessors with the exception of Jayavarman II and Jayavarman III);
4) In the 9th century the "-varman"-title was exclusively reserved for kings (by the way,
Rudravarman was no father of a king); 5) It is surprising that later inscriptions were
considered more trustworthy than contemporary ones, thus twisting things instead of
following a historio-critical method.
MONUMENTS
While Jayavarman II was credited for the founding of the Khmer Empire ca. 800 AD,
Indravarman I was credited for an extensive building program. He set the foundations for the
future Angkorian kings to follow. The king's first act was to perform a public service for his
subjects by building an irrigation network for the rice fields. The goal was usually achieved
by constructing a large reservoir to retain water during the monsoon season and then release
it during the dry season through a network of canals and channels. And in Hindu mythology
the reservoir also represents an ocean and the temple-mountain represents Mount Meru, the
home of the gods. The king and his Brahman advisors performed many rituals throughout the
year to reinforce this belief; for example, the ritual of rain-making performed before the rice
planting season. Immediately, after Indravarman I acceded, he declared in his Práḥ Kô
inscription: "In five days from today I shall begin digging, etc." Dig he did with a reservoir of
an immense size: the Indratāṭaka was the biggest reservoir ever built before his time being 3.8
kilometres (2.4 mi) long by 800 metres (2,600 ft) wide. However, later rulers out-built him
and made his reservoir look small. Now dry, it could have held about 7.5 million cubic
metres of water during the monsoon season.
The king's second act was - as mentioned above - to build shrines and dedicate them to his
god, ancestors, and parents. At his capital city Hariharālaya, Roluos at present, Indravarman I
built Práḥ Kô (Preah Ko), which he dedicated to his maternal father and grandfather, and the
dynasty founder Jayavarman II. His palace was located at Prei Monti.
The king's third act was to build a temple-mountain (or complete a construction begun by
Jayavarman III) which he dedicated to a liṅga dedicated to his
patron Hindu deity Shiva called after himself. Cœdès identified thirteen Angkorian kings
after Indravarman built such shrines for these dual purposes (state and memorial shrine). The
shrines were built with stepped pyramids surrounded by lakes. In the centre of the capital of
Hariharālaya, Indravarman I built Bakong surrounded by double-walled moats. The Bakong
was his state shrine, therefore, it also housed the official [Shiva|Śiva]'s liṅga. Although his
shrines are bigger than his predecessors, they are modest compared to the later shrines. It was
also the first time in Khmer architecture that nāgas were employed as guardians for the bridge
between the human world and the temple, house of gods. Here are 3 of the Sanskrit
Inscriptions duly translated into today’s Sanskrit and English.
No. 54 – PRASAT KANDOL DOM (NORTH) INSCRIPTION OF INDRAVARMAN

Prasat kandol dom is situated about 330 yards to the west of the outer walls of Prah-Ko in te
province of Sutnikom.
The inscription contains 48 verses in Sanskrit (metre Shlokas) and 49 lines in Khmer. Very
little remains of the first nine verses which contained the invocation. Then follows the eulogy
of king Indravarman (vv 10-28) whose orders were obeyed by the kings of China, Champa
and Yavadipa (v-20). Next we have the eulogy of Sivasoma, the guru of the king
Indravarman and the author of the inscription (29-42 verses). He was the grandson of king
Jayendradhipativarma, who was the maternal uncle of the king JayavarmanII (v- 30).
Sivasoma is said to have studied the Shastras at the feet Bhagavan Shankara. Presumably the
great scholar of India of that name. Sivasoma is also mentioned as the preceptor of king
Indravarman in the Sdok Kak Thom inscription. The epithet Dakshinacar in I.32 shows that
he was a tantric and this seems to support the views of some scholars, like Woodroffe, who
ascribe the authorship of some tantras to Shankara.
The object of the inscription was mentioned in the concluding verses which are mostly
illegible. One of these verses 44, contains the name of the god Bhadreshvara. Now as the
Khmer text begins with an invocation to Bhadeshvara, it seems likely that the inscription
recorded the installation of this god by Sivasoma. The Khmer text gives the date of this
foundation, Viz 80X ,i.e some time between 878 and 887 A.D., and contains a long list of
slaves.

No. 55 – PRAH KO INSCRIPTION OF INDRAVARMAN-DATED 801

The inscription is engraved on a stele in the temple of Prah Ko in the Roluoh group in Siem
Reap District. It is written in Sanskrit and contains 40 verses, the metres being Anushtubh (1-
3,7-27,29-40), Upajati (6), and Sardulavikridita (4,5,28). After an invocation to Shiva (vv1-
2) the inscription refers to king Indravarman who became king in 799 (877A.D) (v.3) and
gives his genealogy(v.4). Then follows the eulogy of the king (vv.5-27) who installed three
statues of Shiva and three of Devi in 801 Saka (879A.D) (v.28). Then follow the donations
(vv.29-38) and the usual imprecations (39-40).
Other important points have been noted in the summary at the end.
Many verses of this inscription occur in the other places in this and the neighbouring temples,
as indicated below.
1. Prah Ko Lintel inscription contains vv.1-7 and 27-29 in a different order and in two
cases with slight modifications.
 2. Bakong Door-Pillar inscription
3. Bayang Stele inscription conatins 1,3-6, 10, 22, and 27 with slight modifications in 3
verses. It has seven additional verses as will be noted later.
4. Bakong Stele inscription contains many common verses as will be noted below.

Summary
1-2 Invocation to Shiva
3. He, Indra-varma,the lord of Kambuja, who became king in the year 799, increased the
prosperity of his people by following the three rules of conduct (dharma, artha, kama).
4. The queen born in a family with a succession of kings, the daughter of Rudra-varman and
daughter’s daughter of king Sri-nrpatindra-varma, became the wife of king Prthivindra
varman, born of a kshatriya family, and had a son, named king Indra-varman, respected by
other kings.
5.EULOGY of the king.
6. [refers to the coronation of Indra varman and Mahendra mountain,and probably also to the
Devaraja cult, but the exact sense is not clear]
7. Having obtained the kingdom he made a promise “in five days, beginning from to-day ,i
shall begin excavations etc”
8. He possessed the glorious lion-throne, the (vehicle) Indrayana,and (the palace)
Indravimanaka, made in gold according to his own design(and of several storeys).
9-27 EULOGY of the king.
28. In the year 801 Indravarman installed here three images of Isha and three of Devi – which
are works of his own art.
29. By that Indravarman, emperor, lion among kings, have been given, out of devotion, all
these things to the god.
30. Palanquin, umbrellas, and many vessels of gold and silver of diverse forms and good
design.
31. Large silver jars, silver fans, cups of gold and silver, caskets of gold and silver.
32. Silver vessels, silver sacrificial cups, swords with golden scabbard, jewels and ornaments.
33. Mirrors with gold and silver frame, fly-whisks, camphor and other perfumes.
34. Golden shield, laces decorated with silver, variegated clothes, and all accessories.
35. Many beautiful dancing girls, girls versed in vocal and instrumental music, skilful on
playing lyres and other (instruments), and well versed in pipes and tala (beating time)
36. Large number of beautiful and well-dressed men, skilful in dancing and other (arts), with
requisite clothes and ornaments.
37. Thousands of men and woman, abundant means of subsistence, many villages, with
extensive meadows and parks.
38. Many thousands of cows, buffaloes, goats, male and female elephants, and many horses.
39. Those who out of greed, take the things given by Sri-indra-varma, will live in the terrible
hell as long as the sun and the moon (endure)
40. But those who, out of unequalled devotion, will maintain (or increase ) (the donations),
will live in the abode of Shiva as long as the sun and the moon (endure).

No. 57 – THE BAYANG TEMPLE INSCRIPTION

The inscription was engraved on a single face of a stele. It consists 20 lines of writing. The
language is Sanskrit and it is written entirely in verse. The total number of verses is 15. The
metres being Anushtubh (v.1-3, 9-11), Shardulavikriditam (4&6), Upajati (5) and
Vasantatilaka (7-8)& (12-15). The inscription records the foundation of a new temple at
Sivapura and other religious endowments by king Indravarman.
नमश्शिवाय यो मुर्तिरप्यष्टतनुभिस्स्थितः।
ततान भुवनं सर्वं कालाग्न्यन्तं शिवादिकम्॥१॥
माद्यद्द्विषद्द्विरदकु म्भविलप्रवेश
रक्तस्स्फुरत्फलकतस्स्फुतमौक्तिकैघैः।
धाराप्रचण्डदशनो युधि यस्य चण्डो
दोर्दण्डचन्दनलतासिलतोरगेन्द्रः॥७॥
त्यागक्षमारुतपराक्रम शीतपराशौ क् रमशीलशौ
ल र्य्यर्
य्
यश्रु
प्रागल्भ्यसत्वबलबुद्धिगुणोपपन्नः।
षा…ुण्यवित् त्रिविधशक्तियुक्तो
जितात्मा योगान् जुगोप मनुवत् सुनयानयज्ञः॥८॥
तेन क्षितीवर शिररोधृत
शि
शारो धृतशासनेनश्व
सनेन
रत्नोज्ज्वलं लातपत्रलताकलापम्। Not Translated into English