Meuang Sap Champa; Pāli inscription Sap Champa 3; octagonal pillar; Dhammacakkappavattana-sutta; Dvāravatī culture; Lop Buri; Maritime Silk Road
摘要
Sap Champa counts as one of the important centres of Buddhist cultural activities in early central Siam. Here ‘cultural activities’ refers to the epigraphic display of Pāli texts, the setting up of elegantly carved Dhammacakkas flanked by crouching deer, and other Buddhist symbols. The early urban site in the shape of an irregular oval was encircled by a moat and an earthen wall. Its original name or names, whether as an urban site or monastic centre, are not known.1 The site was much degraded by the mid-twentieth century, and a local museum was established in 2015 in an attempt to preserve some of the relics and to promote knowledge of the ancient locality. In this article, we examine one of its Pāli inscriptions that until recently had been misread. This is Sap Champa 3. We hope that the new reading will contribute to the appreciation of Sap Campa 3’s significance in the corpus of the Pāli inscriptions of Sap Champa.
目次
Inscription Sap Champa 3 42 Acknowledgements 46 Bibliography 46
