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The Hinduized States of Southeast Asia: A Review1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Lawrence Palmer Briggs
Lawrence Palmer Briggs
Affiliation:
Washington, D. C.
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Extract

When George Coedes writes a book on Southeast Asia, it is an event in the history of that region; for, in a lifetime spent in Indochina, he has come to be considered as one of the all-time authorities on that part of the world. His connection with l'Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient has covered more than 40 years, and in his capacity as epigraphist it has been his task to decipher and translate the inscriptions of Champa and Cambodia — Sanskrit, Cham, Khmer, and Pali — and to fix the place of each in history; which inscriptions he has published, generally in the Bulletin of that institution under the title of “Etudes Cambodgiennes,” but also in other journals and in collections. During the twelve years (1918–30) when he was loaned to Siam as Secretary of the National Institute, in charge of the National Library and Museum, he collected, translated, and published the inscriptions of Siam— in Siamese, Tai, Mon, Khmer, Sanskrit, and Pali — and translated and edited important chronicles and other historical documents. He organized and classified the National Museum and founded there the Dvāravatī and Srivijaya Schools of Art. Nor has all his attention been given to French Indochina and Siam. One of his earliest tasks was to collect and publish the references to the Far East in the texts of Greek and Latin authors. While at Bangkok, he translated the inscriptions in Old Malay found within the former kingdom of Srivijaya and wrote several articles on that kingdom.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 7 , Issue 4 , August 1948 , pp. 376 - 393
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1948

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References

3 His first article in Bulletin de l'Ecole Francaise d'Extrime-Orient (BEFEO) was in 1904, pp. 691–97.

4 Recueil des inscriptions du Siam: I. Inscriptions de Sukhodaya (Bangkok, 1924), and II. Inscriptions de Dvāravati, de Srāvijaya et de Lavo (Bangkok, 1929).

5 Une recension pālie des annales d'Ayuthya,” BEFEO, no. 3 (1914); ”Documents sur l'histoire politique et religieuse due Laos occidental,” BEFEO, 25 (1925), 1–203; ”Documents sur la dynastie de Sukhodaya,” BEFEO, no. 2 (1917); ”Les origines de la dynastie de Sukhodaya,” Journal asiatique, 11th sen, 16 (1920), 233–45.

6 The Vajiranana National Library of Siam (Bangkok, 1924); ”Les collections archet>logiques du Musée National de Bangkok,” Ars asiatica, no. 12 (Paris, 1928).

7 Textes d'auteurs grecs et latins relatifs a I'Extrime-Orient depuis le IV siecle avant J. C. jusqu'au XIV siècle (Documents historiques et giographiques relatifs à l'lndochine) (Paris, 1910).

8 “Les inscriptions malaises de Crivijaya,” BEFEO, 30 (1930), 29–81.

9 “Le royaume de Crīvijaya,” BEFEO, no. 6 (1918); ”Apropos de la chute du royaume de Crīvijaya,” Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde van Nederlandsche Indië, 83 (1927), 459–72.

10 “Le royaume de Dvaravati,” Recueil des inscriptions du Siam: Inscriptions de Sukhodaya (Bangkok, 1924), vol. 1, pp. 1–4; ”Le royaume de Crīvijaya,” BEFEO, no. 6 (1918).

11 “Inscriptions de Bhavavarman II, roi du Cambodge (561 caka),” BEFEO (1904), 691–97; “Nouvelles donntes chronologiques et genealogiques sur la dynastie de Mahidarapura,” BEFEO (1929), 297–330.

12 The author points out that only about a century and a half elapsed between the foundation of the kingdom of Funan by the union of a brahman with a naked girl queen and the appearance there of the first Sanskrit inscription (p. 22–23).

13 Louis de La Vallee Poussin,” Dynasties et histoire de l'Inde depuis Kanishka jusqu'aux invasions musulmanes (Histoire du monde, Vol. VI. 2) (Paris, 1935), 360.

14 The author calls attention to a factor which has also played and is playing a preponderant part in the westernization of southeastern Asia today — the return of the neophyte to visit or study at the source of his inspiration.

15 Since Coedès's book was written, a new history of Cambodia by R. C. Majumdar has appeared under the name of Kambujadesa, an ancient Hindu colony in Cambodia. This should be volume 3 of that author's series, ”Ancient Indian colonies in the Far East” (see the review of Majumdar, Hindu colonies in the Far East, in The Far Eastern quarterly, 6 [August, 1947], 420–430). While this reviewer has not yet seen the new work, he can safely say that it is a scholarly, up-to-date work, with special chapters on the culture and institutions. Also the reviewer's work The ancient Khmer Empire, now in process of publication, is a continuous narrative, with the development of religions and arts and with descriptions of the principal monuments and sculptures interwoven in the text.

16 Lawrence Palmer Briggs, “A sketch of Cambodian history,” Far Eastern quarterly, 6 August, 1947), 349–50.

17 Lawrence Palmer Briggs, The ancient Khmer Empire, in process of publication.

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23 BEFEO (1935), 471; G. Coedès, “La plus ancienne inscription en langue chame,” Melange F. W. Thomas, New Indian antiquary, extra series 1 (1939), 46–49.

24 The earliest previously known documents in the Cham language, according to Coedes (p. 46), were the inscriptions of Glai Klong Anok and Po Nagar, dated 813.

25 The Old Malay inscriptions of Srīvijaya were dated 684–686.

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45 Stern, Philippe, “Le temple-montagne Khmer. La culte du linga et la devaraja,” BEFEO, 34 (1934), 614–615CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The italics are M. Stern's. The inscription of Sdok Kak Thom (Finot's translation) says: “This brahman having, with the intelligence and experience of mysteries, carefully extracted the essence of the sastras, established, for the development of the prosperity of the world, the magic rites which carry the name of the Devaraja” (Finot as cited in note 44, p. 80, st. 29).

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51 Barth, “Ang Chumnik,” p. 65.

52 Barth, “Han Chey,” p. 12.

53 Ibid., p. 10, note 1.

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56 Ibid., p. 118, note 5.

57 R. C. Majumdar, Champa, p. 66.

58 , Coedès, “Les inscriptions de Baksei Chamkron,” Journal asiatique, 10 serie, IS (1909), 467–513.Google Scholar

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