Page:JSS 006 1b Bradley OldestKnownWritingInSiamese.pdf/57

 crops up in unexpected quarters. It seems to be the survival of an aboriginal animism, long antedating both the Buddhist and the Brahmanical cults.

80. Having sketched his early life, his prosperous reign, the splendor of his capital and its surroundings, Prince Khŭn Ram Khămhæng tums to note what he considers the three most important events of his reign:—1) The preparation, consecration, and installation of four inscribed monuments of stone, of which we understand that our own was one. 2) The exhuming of the sacred relics of Buddha, their lying in state for the adoration of the faithful, the solemn reinterment of them, and the building of a great pagoda and temple to be their final resting place and shrine. 3) The invention of the art of writing. Highly significant of the measure and stature of the man himself is the choice he makes from among the achievements of what must have a stirring reign. Interesting too is his reversal of the order of time—already referred to, p. 9—to give the art of writing the place of honour at the end and climax of his story.

The era here used is not named, but it is certainly neither the Buddhist Religious Era nor the Little, or Civil, Era, which has prevailed in all civil records of later times. What is known of Sŭkhothăi history from other sources leaves no doubt that the Era is the Great Era, Măha Săkkărat, beginning in 79 A. D. For an account of the many eras which have had currency in this peninsula to the confusion of historical studies, see Phŏngsawădan Yonŏk, Introduction pp. 104—112. The date here given, (1293 A. D.) seems to be the real date of the inscription, though this is not distinctly said. The notes of time and sequence in the language—ได้ and จึ่ง, l. 82, make it clear that this was not the date of the planting of the palm grove, as B understands. S reads the last figure of the date wrongly 2 instead of 4. P has it right in his transliteration, but his translation reads 1314. The plain statement that 'the Prince planted these palm trees, S disposes of as follows:—"le seigneur de la célèbre ville de — — Sukkhothai, la reconstruisit à nouveau.'

86. ผิ has alreadly been noticed l. 25. ไช่ is regularly a word of affirmation 'it is' or 'it was'. By a singular turn it has become a word of negation as well. In deliberate speech and writing, when the sense is negative, a negative particle