The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXIV, Part 1-2, 1976 - Khamkoo

REVIEW ARTICLE 295
is not the case. According to the official records, it came from Nakorn.
The place of provenance is n;t given ,but it was probably from the newly
repaired Wat Phra Dhatu. The inscription starts with four lines of
verse followed by prose. The following translation by Professor Sastri
was made from a translation into French by Professor Coedes:
"Fortune ! There was a king Chandrabhanu-resembling
Cupid in his beautiful form, and called Sri Dharmaraja, Lord of
Tambralinga, who gave great felicity to the religion of the Buddha ...
having for origin this lamp which is the family of those who
engender the Family of the Lotus, as expert in policy as Dharmasoka
and Lord of the Pancandawamsa. (verse)
"Fortune! Happiness! There was a king, support of the
Family of the Lotus, Lord of Tambralinga, of powerful arms ...
by strength of his good works relating to all men, (possessing?) in
some sort the power of the sun and the moon ... Chandrabhanu,
the bearer of world wide fame, the king of Sri Dbarmaraja. In
Kaliyuga 4332 ... " (prose, the date corresponds to 1230 A'D.)
Coedes' mistake in mislocating this stele has led to a great deal of
conjectures. The most charming I have read is by Dato Sir Roland
Braddell (Journal of the Malayan Branch, Royal Asiatic Society, Vol.
XXIH, pt. 3). He equated Tambralinga with Tembelling in Malaya,
and thought that Chandrabanu was an upstart chieftain who somehow
managed to gain control of the Malay Peninsula. Chandrabanu then
overreached himself when he invaded Ceylon (twice) and was heavily
defeated, losing his life in the second attempt. Sir Roland's thesis is not
generally accepted, but later writers quote it all the time-in a rather
negative way. I presume Professor Coedes' charming classic on his Sri
Vijaya Empire will be quoted and discarded by future writers in the
same negative way.
Thai scholars on the other band, who knew all along that the
Tambralinga inscription was set up at Nakorn and not at Cbaiya, and
that Chandrabanu was not a name, but the title of the second king of
Nakorn Sri Thammaraj, have never accepted any of the conjectures. I~
9io P.Ot s~em lo~ical t9 tpepl tpfl.t