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Land and the Law in the Epigraphy of Tenth-Century Cambodia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

M. C. Ricklefs
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Extract

Studies of the early Khmer empire have so far been inevitably concerned with establishing the chronological structure of its history and with its religious institutions, of which much is now known. Other areas of inquiry have tended to be postponed in order to undertake these basic tasks, and the impression may exist that the inscriptions, which are the principal documents for such research, contain no other types of information. This impression is ill-founded. The extensive library of translated Cambodian inscriptions, available in the Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient and, above all, in Professor Cœdès' Inscriptions du Cambodge, contains a storehouse of material relevant to studies of Khmer social and economic institutions as well as to further work in political and religious affairs. Professor Cœdès himself has called for continuing research in these epigraphic materials. Such studies promise exciting contributions to the scholar's understanding of the Angkor monarchy, and of earlier Southeast Asia in general.

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The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 26 , Issue 3 , May 1967 , pp. 411 - 420
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Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1967

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References

1 Cœdès, G. (ed. & trans.), Inscriptions du Cambodge: Collection de Textes et Documents sur l'Indochine (7 v.; Hanoi & Paris, 1937–1964)Google Scholar; hereafter, IC.

2 “L'Avenir des Études Khmeres,” Bulletin de la Société des Études Indochinoises, v. XL (New Series), no. 3 (1965), 205–213Google Scholar; hereafter BSEI. Originally published by Acádemic des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 1960, 367 ff.

3 “L'Avenir,” 210.

4 See Cœdès, G., Les États hindouisés d'Indochine et d'Indonésie (Paris: Editions E. de Boccard, 1964), 220Google Scholar.

5 Ibid., 214.

6 Ibid., 213–214; Briggs, L. P., “The Ancient Khmer Empire,” Transactions of the American Philosophical Society (New Series), v. 41, pt. 1 (1951), 114–122CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

An inscription from Koh Ker nevertheless looks back upon the preceding period at Angkor with some pride. Of Har⊡avarman I it is said that the earth gave up its fruit without labor under the government of the king, who was versed in politics; IC, I, 66.

7 IC, V, 102; Majumdar, R. C., Kambuja-desa, or an Ancient Hindu Colony in Cambodia. Sir William Meyer Lectures, 1942–43 (Madras: University of Madras Press, 1944), 152Google Scholar.

8 Cœdès, États hindouisés, 217, 223–224; on the king's youth see the inscription of Pre Rup in IC, I, 109, 113.

9 IC, I, 105 ff.; IV, 133; VI, 218–222.

10 IC, I, 152, 176.

11 Cœdès, États hindouisés, 218; IC, II, 65. The significance of this inscription is not entirely clear. The Indian Dharmasūtras prescribe that the education of a Kshatriya prince should begin in his eleventh year; Kautilya's Arthaśāstra says his studies should end in his sixteenth year; Mookerji, R. K., Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1951), 247Google Scholar. If this classical Indian pattern was followed, and it is probably safe to assume that was the case, then AD 974 was Jayavarman's sixteenth year and his studies would have begun in 969, the year after his accession at the age of nine or ten. Perhaps the inscription commemorated no more than the end of formal instruction with his guru; on the other hand, it may have announced the significant fact of the ending of a regency and the assertion of the king's personal control of the Angkor administration.

12 IC, VII, 167–172. The Sdok Kak Thom inscription probably speaks of the destruction of this period; Cœdès, G. and Dupont, P., “Les Steles de Sdok Kak Thom, Phnom Sandak et Prah Vihar,” Bulletin de l'École Français d'Extrême-Orient (hereafter BEFEO), v. 43 (1943–46), 120–21CrossRefGoogle Scholar; hereafter, Cœdès & Dupont, “SKT.”

13 Kamelswar Bhattacharya has analyzed certain features of life in these countryside estates in “Some Aspects of Temple Administration in the Ancient Khmer Kingdom,” Calcutta Review, v. 134, no. 2 (Feb., 1955), 193–199. particularly 198–199. These foundations were important centers of learning. See also Majumdar, Kambuja-desa, 112; IC, I, 155–156, where the daily reading of the Vedas in one of these establishments is ordered.

14 IC, VII, 94–98. The translation is difficult, but this is Professor Cœdès' reading, 94–95.

15 “SKT,” 69. See also IC, V, 184; VI, 218–22; VII, 98; K. Bhattacharya, “Temple Administration,” 193. Cœdès and Dupont comment upon the role of a grant such as that in SKT for the expansion of Khmer authority north of the Tonle Sap lake from the ninth to eleventh centuries in “SKT,” 69.

16 IC, V, 178–181. The original proprietor had probably died without heir, in which case the kings seem to have had the right to reclaim the developed territory and grant it anew. This point will be discussed below. The Vat Moha inscription unfortunately gives no information about the property's previous history.

17 On the probable nature of the coronation, see G. Cœdès in BEFEO, v. 43, trans, in John Black, “The Inscriptions of Khao Prah Vihar,” Journal of the Siam Society, v. 47, pt. 1 (June, 1959), 23; hereafter JSS. (A misprint on p. 19 credits the original article to BEFEO, v. 42.) The inscription is from the reign of Suryavarman II.

18 See Cœdès & Dupont, “SKT,” 69; IC, V, 214; Finot, Louis, “Nouvelles Inscriptions du Cambodge,” BEFEO, v. 28 (1928), 50CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

18 IC, II, 98, 107–109.

20 Cœdès & Dupont, “SKT,” 130–131. The foreigners were Brahmins. See Cœdès, “L'Avenir,” 209, on the Khmers' ignorance of the use of coinage.

21 IC, V, 214.

22 IC, V, 187.

23 IC, V, 207–209.

24 IC, II, 110–111; III, 32; IV, 146–148; V, 111–113, 131, 215; VI, 121.

25 IC, I, 155. This may be a case of a royal guarantee which subsequent kings failed to honor, for Sūryavarman II later gave the temple to his Vraḥ Guru, Divākarapaṇḍita; Cœdès, BEFEO, v. 43, trans. in Black, 36–37. On the other hand, the family line of the founder (Yajñavarāha) may have simply died out; the temple seems to have fallen into disrepair, all its lands and slaves having been sold for some unknown reason.

26 IC, V, 184. The inscription is undated but appears to be of the tenth or eleventh century in the Śaka era, i.e. between A.D. 978 and A.D. 1178.

27 IC, V, 214–215.

28 IC, VI, 122. It is interesting to compare these inscriptions with a Javanese inscription of A.D. 1486: “… so long as sun and moon stand (in the heavens), so long as the eight bodies of Śiva retain their lustre, this territory is freed from all questions; these rights are valid for all times”; Raden Adipati Ario Kromodjojo Adi Negoro, Oud-Javaansche Oorkonden op Steen uit de Afdeeling Modjokerto (n. p., 1924?), p. 30.

Cf. also the 1292 stele of Rama Khamheng, where the Thai ruler claims, “If a man of the people, a noble or a chief falls sick, dies and disappears, the house of his ancestors, his clothing, his elephants, his family, his rice granaries, his slaves, the plantations of areca and the plantations of betel of his ancestors are transmitted intact to his children”; Cœdès, G. (ed. & trans.), Recucil des Inscriptions du Siatn (Bangkok: Bangkok Times Press, 1924–1929), pt. 1, 44–45Google Scholar.

20 Examples of land sales were given above. A stele of Tuk Cum reports that the founder of the establishment had assigned the authority over the foundation to two nephews; IC, VI, 119–122. An A.D. 953 stele of Vat Kdei Car records the donation of a religious establishment to the founder's niece; IC, VI, 127. Since these are intrafamily arrangements, they are less remarkable than instances of outright sale.

30 Cœdès & Dupont, “SKT,” 130.

31 Bhattacharya, “Temple Administration,” 193–194; IC, I, 156; VI, 257 (also in Black, 43).

32 Bhattacharya, “Temple Administration,” 198.

33 Examples of these arrangements are in IC, I, 156; V, 126–132; the first of these two is in the inscription cited above in which it was ordered that “This religious establishment may be neither taken nor given by the kings or their favorites”; (IC, I, 155) nevertheless the king's sanction was required for the merger. See also Bhattacharya, “Temple Administration,” 198; Cœdès, G. and Dupont, P., “Les Inscriptions du Pràsàt Kôk Pô,” BEFEO, 37 (1937), 396CrossRefGoogle Scholar; also in Majumdar, R. C., Inscriptions of Kambuja (Calcutta: The Asiatic Society, 1953), 312–313Google Scholar.

34 IC, VI, 270, trans, in Black, 54–55.

35 Aymonier, Étienne, Le Cambodge (3 Vols.), (Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1900–04), III, 558–559Google Scholar. See also I, 85, where Aymonier describes a somewhat similar situation obtaining in Cambodia about the turn of the twentieth century. A. L. Basham describes a situation in India which was the same as that proposed here for tenth-century Cambodia; The Wonder that Was India: A Survey of the Culture of the Indian Sub-Continent before the Coming of the Muslims (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 1954), p. 109Google Scholar.

36 IC, V, 178–181.

37 IC, VII, 94–98.

38 IC, VI, 129–130. Professor Cœdès, in his introduction to the inscription (p. 128), supports the interpretation that the three were deceased; he also suggests the possibility that this was a donation to a temple by the three individuals. Aymonier, I, 394, had felt this was a “véritable confiscation.”

39 IC, VII, 45–47. See Professor Cœdès' map at the back of his États hindouisés.

40 Sec Finot, 50; Cœdès, “L'Avenir,” 210–211. See Aymonier, I, 420, where Jayavīravarman orders that anyone who violates the boundaries of the land-holding shall have his chest pierced; also in Majumdar, Inscriptions, 322.

41 IC, I, 125.

42 IC, VI, 203. Sec also Cœdès, États hindouisés, p. 221, and Lingat, R., “L'Influence juridiquc de l'Inde au Champa et au Cambodge d'après l'Epigraphie,” Journal Asiatique, v. 237, no. 2 (1949), 283Google Scholar; hereafter cited JA.

43 Such cases will not be examined here. For an interesting example which would appear to be of a “criminal” nature, see Cœdès, G., “La Stele de Tuol Rolom Tim: Essai d'Interpretation par la Langue bahnar d'un texte juridique khmer du Xe siecle,” JA, v. 242, pt. 1 (1954), 49–67Google Scholar. This case is also discussed by Professor Cœdès in “L'Avenir,” p. 212.

44 See IC, VII, 167–72, where Professor Cœdès offers a new reconstruction of the events at the beginning of the eleventh century. He suggests that the usurping Ligor prince may have been Jayavīravarman, not Sūryavarman I, as he had once believed.

45 IC, V, 202–209. The inscription was found in the province of Battambang, an area which may have seen considerable fighting.

46 IC, II, 107–109. It is interesting to note that the model Indian king did not hear law cases by himself, lest the freedom of the judiciary be compromised; Mukharji, P. B., “The Hindu Judicial System,” in Radhakrishnan, Sarvepalli et al. (eds.), The Cultural Heritage of India, v. II, Itihāsas, Purāṇas, Dharma and other Śāstras (2nd ed.; Calcutta: The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, 1962), 434–435Google Scholar, 437.

47 IC, V, 182–185.

48 IC, VI, 163.

49 IC, V, 108–113.

50 IC, VI, 140–142, also described and commented upon by Professor Cœdès in “L'Avenir,” 211.

51 IC, V, 214–215.

52 IC, VI, 160–164. The lacunae make it difficult to understand the background, development, or outcome of this action.

53 IC, V, 150–151.

54 IC, II, 113–114.

55 IC, II, 67–68.

56 IC, V, 215. The royal charters of Java also seem to have fulfilled the functions of a deed. In the Sarwadharma Charter of AD 1269, the author says, “To have the honoured holy Royal charter bearing the sign Kertanagara made, to be kept in the lap by the dominions and dependencies of the honoured holy domains of the clergy of all kinds, in order to render firm the Illustrious Great King's protection of the independence of the honoured holy domains of the clergy of all kinds”; Th. Pigeaud, Theodore G., Java in the 14th Century: A Study in Cultural History (5 v.; The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1960–1962), III, 144Google Scholar.

Such records were probably fairly old in Soumeast Asia by the tenth century. The mid-eighth century Javanese inscription of Plumpaṇan speaks of a land grant “recorded in the form of letters, written with the point of a mango”; de Casparis, J. G., Inscripties uit de Çailendra-tijd (Bandung: A. C. Nix & Co., 1950), p. 11Google Scholar.

These documents probably also fulfilled magical functions in addition to their legal roles; imprecations against malefactors are common.

57 Cœdès, “La Stele de Tuol Rolom Tim,” 66–67; Cœdès & Dupont, “SKT,” 75; Cœdès, “L'Avenir,” 212.

58 Cf. Benda, Harry J., “The Structure of Southeast Asian History: Some Preliminary Observations,” Journal of Southeast Asian History, v. 3, no. 1 (March, 1962), 113CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Professor Benda differs on the nature of Khmer political and economic organization; he suggests that royal control of the agrarian economy was complete and that there was no substantial land-owning class.

59 Letter of July 10, 1966, to Professor O. W. Wolters. The author wishes to express his gratitude for Professor Cœdès' kind assistance in answering this and other questions which arose during the preparation of this study.

The most common titles are Vāp (IC, II, 109–111; III, 32; V, 111, 112, 206, 214; “SKT,” 130–131), Me (IC, II, no, 112; V, 112), and Loñ (IC, V, 131, 187; “SKT,” 130). Aymonier also suggested meanings for these terms which may or may not be correct; in any case they are definitely of a low level; Aymonier, II, 540, 545.

60 See Bhattacharya, “Temple Administration,” 194. For a description of the king's position as over-lord of all the land in India, see Basham, 109–110.

61 On the role of the Khmer ruler as the “final judge of disputes between his subjects” and the ultimate source of authority in the kingdom, sec G. Cœdès, The Maying of Southeast Asia (Wright, H. M. trans, of Les Peuples de la Péninsule Indochinoise; Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1966), pp. 103–104Google Scholar.

Cf. the 1292 stele of Rama Khamheng: “If the common people, the nobles or the chiefs are in disagreement, (the king) holds a true investigation, and then settles the affair for his subjects according to justice”; Cœdès, Recuiel des Inscriptions du Siam, pt. 1, 45.

The situation may have been similar in insular Southeast Asia. The Babad Tanah Djawi speaks of the collapse of the Mataram administration under Mangkurat I (1646–77), which was evidenced by the fact that, among other things, “The bupatis, mantris, and sentanas plundered each other's apanages and the order in the empire was completely upset”; Olthof, W. L. (trans.), Babad Tanah Djawi, In Proza, Javaansche Geschiedenis ('s-Gravenhage: M. Nijhoff, 1941), p. 159CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also de Jong, P. E. Josselin, Minangkobau and Negri Sembilan: Socio-Political Structure in Indonesia (Djakarta: Bhratara, 1960), 109Google Scholar, on the role of the king as mediator between quarreling factions in Minangkabau.

There is something similar in the concept of the king as the defender of each individual's right to fulfill his own Dharma. Professor G. de Casparis has emphasized this aspect of Javanese kingship in his discussion of Airlangga, Sūryavarman, I's great contemporary; Airlangga (Surabaja: Penerbitan Universitas, 1958), 21–22Google Scholar.