Page:Origins of Sukhodaya dynasty - Coedes - 1921.pdf/4

 great wealth of details — often picturesque and always very instructive. But since I hope to publish this inscription in its entirety in the "Corpus of Thai inscriptions" upon which I am working at the present moment, I shall here only study its opening passages, these latter being particularly important for the history of the Sukhodaya dynasty. The state in which the text has come down to us confirms, unfortunately, the rule which weighs like a curse upon epigraphic studies and which ordains that, in a partly ruined inscription, the most important passages (dates, historical facts, etc.) are precisely those which are the least well preserved.

The characters which still remain enable us only to make an imperfect guess at the general sense of the first twenty lines. The first legible name is that of the Mahāthera Śrī Sradhārājacūlāmūnṇ [sic]ī (l.3). The text afterwards seems to refer back for several generations: following on the names of Mu'ang Chōt เมืองฉอด (well known from the inscription of Khun Rāma Khamhēng) and of Mu'ang Lamphong เมืองลำพง, it mentions the construction of the Dantadhātusugandhacetiya (l.5), the towns of Saraluang สรลวง and of Sōng Khwē สองแฅว (l.6, — equally known from the inscription of Khun Rāma Khamhēng), and finally the foundation of two other towns, "the one named Sukhodaya and the other Śrī (Sajjanālaya)" (l.7). A little further on the text seems to be stating the limits of a principality or kingdom (ll.11 to 13): "On the South-West as far as Chōt … … … On the North-West as far as Xieng Sēn, Phyao ชยงแสน, พยาว … … … On the North as far as … … …" Lines 14 to 20 are almost indecypherable. With line 20 the text improves, and from line 25 onwards the missing portions are insignificant.

At line 20 occurs the entry upon the scene of two personages who are to take a very prominent part in the establishment of the Sukhodaya dynasty: Phō Khun Bāng Klāng Thāo พอ่ขุนบางกลางทาว and Phō Khun Phā Mu'ang Chao Mu'ang Rāt พอ่ขุนผาเมืองเจ้าเมืองราด.