Components of the altar from Đồng Dương (C. 236), 9th century Śaka

Components of the altar from Đồng Dương (C. 236), 9th century Śaka EpiDoc Encoding Salomé Pichon intellectual authorship of edition Arlo Griffiths Salomé Pichon DHARMA Paris DHARMA_INSCIC00236

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The lettering is characteristic of the ninth and tenth centuries CE.

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Initial encoding of the inscription

gni

SoutheastThe block showing the temporary mark A3 in the photo is engraved with the syllable gni. This is an abbreviation of agni(dik), that is the guardian deity of the Southeast, Agni, or the direction (dik) that he oversees.

NortheastThe block showing the temporary mark A5 bears the syllable Ī. This is an abbreviation of īśāna(dik), that is the guardian deity of the Northeast, Īśāna, or the direction (dik) that he oversees.

These two syllables are without doubt intended to aid the foreman or his workers in correctly assembling the blocks, by providing their orientation: the staircase has to be oriented between Southeast and Northeast, or, in other words, towards the East. The signs were not meant to be visible anymore after assembly of the altar, being covered up by a higher level of blocks.

First edited with translation into English by Arlo Griffiths et al. (2012).

281-282 458 113-116 108-110 451-452