Grande Inscription d'Angkor
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{{Infobox artifact
|image = Grande inscription d'Angkor.jpg
|name = Grande Inscription d'Angkor
|image_caption = Grande Inscription d'Angkor with its ornate frame
|material =
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|writing = Middle Khmer
|created = ~ 18th century AD
|period =
|place = Siem Reap, Siem Reap Province
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|location = Angkor Wat
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{{Location map
| Cambodia
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| lat_deg = 13.412681951379485
| lon_deg = 103.86818915179705
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The Grande Inscription d’Angkor, referenced as K. 301 or Inscription Modern Angkor Wat (IMA) #38, is the longest Khmer inscription at Angkor Wat. Dated to 1701, it is located on the east wall between the bas-relief galleries and facing the Chey Non stupa in the courtyard outside.
It is considered to be the only dated Middle Khmer metrical poem.{{Cite book |last=Jenner |first=Philip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3WZkAAAAMAAJ&q=Grande+Inscription+d%E2%80%99Angkor |title=Mon-Khmer Studies |date=1991 |publisher=University Press of Hawaii |location=Hawaii |pages=72 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last1=Jenner |first1=Philip N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ak9kAAAAMAAJ&q=Grande+Inscription+d%E2%80%99Angkor |title=Austroasiatic Studies |last2=Thompson |first2=Laurence C. |last3=Starosta |first3=Stanley |date=1976 |publisher=University Press of Hawaii |isbn=978-0-8248-0280-6 |pages=710 |language=en}}
Context
The Grande Inscription d'Angkor relates the return to Angkor of a court dignitary, a certain Oknha Jaiya Nan of Chey Non, in order to accomplish meritorious deeds. After both his two sons died on the battlefield and his wife's death left him a widower, Chey Non was deeply saddened. As a loyal father and husband, he built a laterite stupa near the entrance to the eastern gallery of Angkor Wat in honour of them.{{Cite book |last=Sudhārā̋ |first=Váṅ |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/649085881 |title=សិលាចារឹកនៃប្រទេសកម្ពូជាសម័យកណ្ដាល (Silācārẏk nae Prades Kambujā samăy mun Qaṅgar : qatthapad pakprae riapriaṅ niṅ qatthādhippāy) |date=2010 |publisher=Nokor Vat - Royal University of Phnom Penh |isbn=978-99950-2-115-3 |location=Phnom Penh |trans-title=Post-Angkor Inscriptions of Cambodia |oclc=649085881}} It seems impossible to determine whether or not Jaiya Nan composed the inscriptions himself or had them composed by another, perhaps a court poet. Given the unique and personal style of the texts, it seems sufficient to treat Jaiya Nan as the author, whether direct or indirect.
Content
File:2016 Angkor, Angkor Wat, Stupa.jpg
The Grande Inscription d'Angkor is a 53 line poem composed with 152 verses using three different meters followed by a colophon and engraved on a designated wall in the complex of Angkor Wat. Divided in three parts with "true poetic inspiration" according to Khmer historian Mak Phoeun,{{Cite book |last=Phoeun |first=Mak |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=si11AAAAMAAJ&q=Grande+Inscription |title=Histoire du Cambodge: de la fin du XVIe siècle au début du XVIIIe |date=1995 |publisher=Presses de l'Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient |isbn=978-2-85539-776-4 |pages=395 |language=fr}} it is a poem rich in metaphor, literary allusion and Buddhist references.{{Cite book |last=Cœdès |first=George |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bC9BAQAAMAAJ&q=Grande+Inscription |title=Les bas-reliefs d'Angkor-Vat |date=1911 |publisher=Imprimerie national, E. Leroux, editeur |pages=53 |language=fr}} The first section is in Brahmagiti metre, and pays homage to Buddha and various divinities asking for blessings. The author details his career and laments the death of his wife for whom he built a stupa. The second part in the bhujangalila metre is apotropaic. The third part is in kakagati is devotional in hoping for a better future life. with the ultimate aim of meeting Maitreya.
The poetic meters are identical use to those used in the poems attributed to King Thommo Reachea II who rule between 1627 and 1631.{{Cite book |last1=Sukh |first1=Ghẏn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AnNuAAAAMAAJ&q=Grande+Inscription+d%E2%80%99Angkor |title=L'annexion du Cambodge par les Vietnamiens au XIXe siècle, d'après les deux poèmes du vénérable Bâtum Baramey Pich |last2=Sok |first2=Khin |date=2002 |publisher=You-Feng |isbn=978-2-84279-030-1 |pages=34 |language=fr}}
Analysis
= Literary references =
File:Close-up on the Grande inscription d'Angkor.jpg.]]
The poem makes literary references to various texts in Pali and traditions known to Khmer civilization:{{Cite book |last=Snellgrove |first=David L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zE5uAAAAMAAJ&q=jaiya+nan |title=Angkor, Before and After: A Cultural History of the Khmers |date=2004 |publisher=Orchid Press |isbn=978-974-524-041-4 |pages=193 |language=en}} Nagasena of King Milinda of the Milinda Panha, figures of the Jataka tales both Vessantara Jātaka and Mahanipata Jataka such as Temiya, Mahosadha, Maddim Jali, Kanha. There are references to the Rama, Srivikrama, Hanuman, Dhananjaya, and Preah Ketumala, the legendary builder of royal city as mentioned in The Poem of Angkor Wat,{{Cite journal |last=Skilling |first=Peter |date=2001 |title=Some Literary References in the "Grande Inscription d'Angkor" (IMA 38) |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/asean_0859-9009_2001_num_8_1_1731 |journal=Aséanie, Sciences humaines en Asie du Sud-Est |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=58 |doi=10.3406/asean.2001.1731}} showing that this last legend was already well ingrained in popular belief.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G_rVAAAAMAAJ&q=Grande+Inscription+d%E2%80%99Angkor |title=Le temple d'Angkor Vat |date=1995 |publisher=Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient |isbn=978-1-878529-16-9 |pages=10 |language=fr}}
= Signs of political instability =
Ian Harris argues that the Grande Inscription d'Angkor is a witness of unstable times during which many leaders adopted an attitude of withdrawal; while King Chey Chettha III spend much of his time in robes at Wat Preah Sugandha Mean Bon in Oudong away from state affairs, the Grande Inscription d'Angkor also records that a minister, Jaiya Nan, was ordained a total of five times.{{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Ian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVnMxVz_Bg8C&dq=grande+inscription+dangkor+wat&pg=PA44 |title=Cambodian Buddhism: History and Practice |date=2008-03-11 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-3298-8 |pages=44 |language=en}}
= Continuous use of Angkor Wat despite destructions =
The Grande Inscription d'Angkor is one of the proofs of the continuous presence of Khmer people in Angkor Wat, before the place was rediscovered by French missionary Bouillevaux and explorer Henri Mouhot. The author mentions restorations of statues. As other late inscriptions of Angkor Wat, which mention works of restoration and celebrations that took place, the author of the Grande Inscription d'Angkor Wat mentions among his meritorious acts the restoration of broken images of Buddha, broken into pieces and lost, with their neck broken the head on the ground, their feet crushed and the arms pulled out,{{Cite book |last=Giteau |first=Madeleine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dTluAAAAMAAJ&q=Grande+Inscription |title=Iconographie du Cambodge post-angkorien |date=1975 |publisher=École française d'Extrême-Orient |pages=152 |language=fr}} deploring this state of decay.{{Cite book |last=Giteau |first=Madeleine |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k33242491 |title=Histoire d'Angkor |publisher=Kailaish |year=1996 |location=Paris |pages=214 |language=fr}} What's more, human remains excavated from around the Chey Non stupa indicate that the place had become an ominous place of burial for locals after the 17th century.{{Cite web |last=ស៊ុយ |first=ម៉ាប់ |date=2017-11-18 |title=ប្រវត្តិចេតិយបុរាណជ័យនន្ទដែលសង់ក្នុងបរិវេណប្រាសាទអង្គរវត្តជាង៣០០ឆ្នាំ |trans-title=History of the ancient Chey Non stupa built in the Angkor Wat complex for more than 300 years |url=https://www.vodkhmer.news/2017/11/18/the-ancient-history-of-jayavarman-ii-built-in-the-angkor-complex-meta-ed/ |access-date=2022-03-17 |website=វីអូឌី |language=km}}
Translations
The Grande Inscription d'Angkor was first translated by German anthropologist and published in print by Adolf Bastian in 1867.{{Cite journal |last=Bastian |first=Adolf |date=1868 |title=Translation of an inscription copied in the temple of Nakhon Vat or the City of Monasteries near the capital of the ancient Kambodia |journal=Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal |publication-place=Calcutta |volume=XXXVI |pages=76–83}} It was published in French by Etienne Aymonier in 1900 and translated into modern Khmer by Chhim Krasem first in 1938 and republished in 1984.{{Cite book |last=Krasem |first=Chhim |title=សិលាចារិកនគរវត្ត |publisher=Centre de documentation et de recherche sur la civilisation khmère |year=1984 |location=Paris |trans-title=Inscriptions modernes d'Angkor}}
References
Bibliography
- {{Cite journal |last=Skilling |first=Peter |date=2001 |title=Some Literary References in the "Grande Inscription d'Angkor" (IMA 38) |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/asean_0859-9009_2001_num_8_1_1731 |journal=Aséanie, Sciences humaines en Asie du Sud-Est |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=57–66 |doi=10.3406/asean.2001.1731}}
{{Buddhism in Cambodia|state=collapsed}}
Category:18th-century inscriptions
Category:18th century in Cambodia
Category:Historiography of Cambodia