Indian Epigraphy c14.s6: 6. South Annam
Indian Epigraphy c14.s6
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6. South Annam
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The number of Sanskrit inscriptions discovered in South Annam (ancient Campā) is fairly large; but the size of most of them is not very big. Many of the epigraphs are written in verse; but there are some written either in prose or in a mixture of prose and verse. They are generally on stone stelae, although some of them are engraved on rocks, stone images and metalic plates. The palaeography of the earlier records is similar to that of the Cambodian epigraphs. The Dong Duong inscription of Indravarman II, dated Śaka 797 (875 A.D.), is a fairly big record engraved on the four faces of a stelae containing respectively 24, 24, 23 and 31 lines.¹
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¹ R. C. Majumdar, *Campā*, Part III, pp. 74 ff.
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A collection of the Sanskrit inscriptions of Campā was prepared by A. Bergaigne in 1888. It was published after his death by Barth in 1893 in the *Notices et Extraits de Manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Nationale et autres Bibliothèques*, Vol. XXVII, Part 1, Fasc. 2. A large number of inscriptions in the Cham language were edited by Aymonier in the *Journal Asiatique*, 1891. Inscriptions in Sanskrit and Cham, discovered at later dates, have mostly been published in the *Bulletin de l'Ecole Francaise d' Extreme-Orient* by scholars like L. Finot, M. Huber, G. Coedès and others.
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The earliest inscription discovered in Campā is the Vocañh epigraph of a king of the Śrīmāra family who flourished in the 4th or 5th century A. D.² The Mi-son and Cho Dinh inscriptions of king Bhadravarman, who flourished in the 5th or 6th century A. D., are written in the box-headed alphabet.³ The Śaka era began to appear in the records of this area about the second half of the 6th century A.D.⁴
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² Cf. *IHQ*., Vol. XVI, pp. 484 ff.; Vol. XVII, pp. 107 ff; *Journ. As*., 1953, pp. 477 ff. Some scholars assign the inscription to an earlier date.
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³ See *BEFEO*, Vol. XXXII, 1932, pp. 127 ff. and Table; *JRASB*, Vol. I, 1935, Plate facing p. 10.
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⁴ Cf. R. C. Majumdar, *Campā*, Part III, pp. 9 ff.