สำนักราชบัณฑิตยสภา

The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume II - 2010 Chirapat Prapandvidya 45 merchants and, in a few cases, princes, or chiefs in straightened circumstances, who wanted to acquire wealth by trade or other means. The Kathākośa relates the story of Nāgadatta who went to Suvarṇadvīpa with five hundred ships in order to acquire wealth. The Buddhist works Milindapañha and Niddesa also refer to regular trading voyages to Suvarṇbhūmi ” (Majumdar 1963 : 7). An attempt has been made to prove that the Indianization of Farther India, or Southeast Asia, dates back at least to the Maurya Emperors (cir. third century BC). Cœdès is of a different opinion (1968: 16). According to him, neither archaeological and epigraphic documents nor foreign sources can be dated any further back than the Niddesa which dates, at the latest, to the very first centuries of the Christian Era. It enumerates a number of Sanskrit or Sanskritized places that may be identified with Farther India (1968:lo.cit.). Bhavavarman I’s inscription This much damaged stone pillar inscription was discovered at Bān (village) Vang Phai, Vichianburī District, Petchabūn Province. From what remains, it appears that King Bhavavarman , who is equal to Indra , is the son of Pṛthivīndravarman and the grandson of a universal monarch (cakravartin) . The inscription tells us of the erection of images of Śiva (Kaewkhlai 1986 Lem 1: 141; Cœdès 1964: 156-8). On the basis of this inscription, the territory of Bhavavarman I must have extended as far as Petchabūn , the north central part of Thailand. Bhavavarman , grandson of Sārvabhauma , the universal monarch, that is, of the king of Funan, was well known to be a Śaivite. He ruled Chenla , the Cambodian pre-Angkorian kingdom, which was constituted after gaining independence from the Chams during the second half of the sixth century. The center of the state can be located in the middle Mekong , in the region of Bassac (Cœdès 1968: 66). Citrasen’s Inscriptions (cir. seventh century CE) Few inscriptions, each of which is basically a repetition of the earlier ones, have been discovered in Ubonrātchathāni, Burīram and Khonkaen Provinces. They tell us that Citrasena , who is the grandson of Sārvabhauma , and whose marks of characteristics are reputed (āhatalakṣaṇa) , has, in spite of his being the youngest brother of Bhavavarman , obtained the name, after his coronation, of Mahendravarman, on account of his power (śakti) . He is mentioned in the inscriptions to have erected Śivaliṅgas and the bull Nandi as the symbol (cihna) of his conquest over the entire territory (Kaewkhlai 1986 Lem 1: 155-67). Evidently, these inscriptions are among