Page:Origins of Sukhodaya dynasty - Coedes - 1921.pdf/9

 Mahānagara Indraprastha Rastharājadhānī." This spelling proves that Śrī Sodharapura is quite simply an altered form of Śrī Yaśodharapura, the old name of Angkor Thom at the period of the inscriptions. The dropping of the "ya" is easily explained: in the Khmer script a parasitic "y" is frequently added after the vowel "i" and the diphtongsdiphthongs [sic] "ai" or "ei", the word Śrīyaśodharapura thus becoming without difficulty Śriy-Śodharapura, Śri Śodharapura. The presence of this latter form in the inscription from Sukhodaya tends to prove that this alteration is an old one.

Even if this explanation of the name Śrī Sodharapura be not accepted, it is none the less certain that the term denotes exclusively Cambodia. The Chao Mu'ang of Śrī Sodharapura is thus none other than the King of Cambodia. His epithet of "god" need not surprise us, for it is known that the kings of ancient Cambodia attached the word "deva" to their name during their own lifetime. In saying that the King of Cambodia conferred on Phō Khun Phā Mu'ang a title similar (or equal) to his own, the text of the inscription is not exaggerating greatly, for the dignity of Kamratēng Añ was a very high one: the title was borne by the King himself, generally preceded by the words "braḥ pāda" to which the sovereign alone had a right.

The identity of the King of Śrī Sodharapura being thus established, it will doubtless not be forcing much the meaning of the passage in which he is mentioned, if we seek in it the echo of a considerable event which marked a turning-point in the history of Indo-China. Phō Khun Phā Mu'ang had received some kind of investiture at the hands of the quasi-divine personage who was then the sovereign of the Khmer kingdom; he must therefore have found himself in the position of a vassal of the latter. But after his victory over the bold Khōm and his entry into Sukhodaya, he doubtless thought himself to be a sufficiently important person to play the suzerain in his turn, to confer the abhisheka on his ally Phō Khun Bāng Klāng Thāo, and to award to him the very same titles which he had received from his old master. It appears as if we were lighting here upon the exact moment when the Thai principality of Sukhodaya