Stela from Mỹ Sơn B6

Face A. || oṁ namaś śivāya ☉ svasti yaṁ sarvvadevās sasureśamukhyā dhyāyanti tattattvavidaś ca santaḥ svasthaḥ suśuddhaḥ paramo vareṇya īśānanāthas sa jayaty ajasram· || smr̥tir api yasya sakr̥d api praṇipatitān tārayaty apāyebhyaḥ sa śrībhadreśo stu prajāhitārtthaṁ tathā prabhāseśaḥ || ānandāmvaraṣaṭśataniyamitaśakabhūbhujāṅ gate samaye śuciśukladvetadinaprapannasupunarvasuvyaste || siṅhaniviṣṭasuragurau vr̥ṣabhopagatārkkabhaumasomasute saurādhyāsitataule meṣāyātāsurendragurau || upacayakr̥dravivāre yugmāyātopakāricandramasi viśvamuhūrttāpannāṁ trayodaśīṁ nālikām abhitaḥ || īśāneśvarakośaṁ saṁsthāpya yathāvidhi svabhaktivaśāt· śrīmān prakāśadharmmā mukuṭam bhadreśvarāyādāt· ||

Face B. kośamukuṭobhayaṁ tat·kīrttistambhadvayopameyam iva yāvac candrādityau tāvad idaṁ susthitaṁ jagati || iti yasya kīrttir itthaṁ saṁbhūtā labdhabhūmikā sthāne sa śrīprakāsadharmmā campākṣoṇīśvaro jayati ||

api ca

sūryye sminn udayaṅgate himakaro yāty astam indūdaye tasmiṁś cāstamito raviḥ punar iti prāyeṇa lokasthitiḥ īśāneśvarakośanirmmalaśaśī bhadreśamaulyaṅśumām̐s tāv evodayasaṁditau vihitavān vikrāntavarmmā nr̥paḥ || acchedyabhedya ādyaḥ kṣatam iha sakalan nāśayann āśritānām īśāno yat kṣatāṅgas svayam ayam avadat· sadbhir ākhyeyam etat· īśānasyāṣṭamūrttiḥ kṣatam abhilaṣitam̐ rūpyakośendunādo rājā vikrāntavarmmā jayati bahumataś chādayitvaiva nānyeḥ || śrīśānarūpyabhedī prakāśadharmmāvanīndrakīrttir iti bhāti savidyud iva ravyadriḥ ||

|| oṁ namaś śivāya Finot omits all liminal signs and oṁ. The words are expressed figuratively. On this figure, and on the form of the double daṇḍa, cf. 352 n. 10361 n. 28, as well as 279.☉ svastiFinot omits the spiral-shaped fleuron and inserts after svasti the sign || which is not actually there.sasureśamukhyāthe reading with short a in sa is uncertain. Judging only by the estampage, one might be inclined to read sā, but this would be unmetrical. See the note to our translation.sa śrībhadreśoso śrībhadreśvaroprajāhitārtthaṁprajāhitārthaṁtathāFinot notes Tathā serait à supprimer metri causā ; mais il paraît utile pour le sens. This statement is based on a misidentification of the stanza as an Āryā.°dveta°°dvaita°Understand °dvaita°. Cf. another case of e for ai in st. X below, where the sequence chādayitvaiva nānyeḥ allows comparing the shapes of e and ai.śrīmān prakāśadharmmā[śrīmān prakāśadharmmo]Finot explains: Lecture restituée d'après de simples traces de lettres. The ending -o in Finot's restitution is based on the wrong understanding, widespread even into recent literature, that the king's name was Prakāśadharma, rather than Prakāśadharman.tat·kīrttistambha°tat kīrttistambha°It seems better to make tat the first member of a compound.api caathaivatasmiṁś cāstam°tasmiṁśāstam°This printing error was corrected in BEFEO 15.2, p. 190. The stone clearly shows ścā.aṅśumām̐saṁśumāṁstāv evodayasaṁditau vi°tāv e ⎼ ⏑ ⏑ ⎼ ⏑ tābhi°The proposed restoration is largely conjectural, but what remains visible on the stone allows it (and does not allow a reading °hitau).acchedya°acchedyā°Finot's reading is required for sense and meter, but the inscription actually shows acchedya. No difference is discernible from the two cases of dya that immediately follow. That the scribe was not infallible is clear also elsewhere in this stanza.°mūrttiḥcorrect °mūrtteḥ. The correction was proposed to us by Yuko Yokochi.abhilaṣitam̐abhilaṣitaṁnānyeḥ |nānyaṁCorrect nānyaiḥ |.°bhedī°bhedeprakāśadharmmāvanīndrakīrttirFinot was unable to read anything of this stanza beyond prakāśadharmmāvanīndra. The reading bhāti savidyud iva ravyadriḥ is rather uncertain as a whole, but is the only reading reading we have been able to think of that suits the meter and seems permissible judging by the estampage.

Success! Om! Reverence to Śiva! Success! Hail!

Him upon whom all the gods, together with Sureśa (Indra) at their head,The construction sasureśamukhya- seems redundant. One could easily read here sāsureśamukhya-, which would arguably yield a better sense ('together with the best of demons'), but would be unmetrical. as well as all good people who know His nature, meditate; independent, very pure, ultimate, sublime; He, Īśānanātha, triumphs always!

May that Śrī Bhadreśa, and Prabhāseśa too, even a thought of Whom, even once, saves those who are prostrated from evils, be for the good of the people!On the divine triad Īśānesvara, Bhadreśvara and Prabhāseśvara, see C. 96 B, l. 24-25.

When the era of the Śaka kings, denoted by six hundred, the (void) ether 0 and 9 ĀnandasGolzio translates some Nandas and notes that his translation is based mainly on two facts: 1. There is no word ānanda as a numerical symbol; 2. For the calculation of the complete date (see next footnote) only one solution can be evaluated as valid, the reading of Śaka 609. Golzio might have referred to the corrigendum published in BEFEO 15.2, p. 190: traduction, st. III, lire : « en l’an des rois çakas déterminé par six cents, l'atmosphère et les Nandas (609) ». [Correction de M. Fleet.] Supprimer la note. This does not explain what to do with the ā-, but since the value 9 is well attested for nanda, and since this word is in its primary sense synonymous and almost identical in shape to ānanda, the hypothesis of their equivalence seems natural enough. had elapsed, and had reached the second day of the waxing fortnight of Śuci (i.e. Jyeṣṭha),On the name of the month, see 367. well extended over the good (lunar mansion) Punarvasū,

IV. when Jupiter had entered Leo; when the Sun, Mars and Mercury were in Taurus; when Libra had been occupied by Saturn; when Venus had arrived in Aries,

V. on the day of the prosperity-promoting Sun (i.e. on Sunday), when the favorable MoonThe fact that, unusually, both Sun and Moon receive here special positive attributes probably has to be seen in connection with the special attention allotted to these two heavenly bodies also further on in this inscription (st. VII, IX, XI). had arrived in Gemini, around the thirteenth nālikā (unit of time) falling in the muhūrta (watch) of the Viśva[vasu]s,

VI. after having installed, with due rites, at the urge of his own devotion, a sheath for Īśānesvara, the illustrious Prakāśadharman gave a crown to Bhadreśvara.

VII. May this pair of sheath and crown, as it were a likenessThe combination of upameyam with iva seems redundant. of two pillars of his fame, abide on earth as long as Sun and Moon (shall last).

VIII. So triumphs he, Śrī Prakāśadharman, king of Campā, whose fame, originating in this manner, has fittingly taken root!

And also:

IX. When this Sun here rises, the Moon sets; and when that Moon rises, the Sun sets: this is normally the situation in the world. But the king Vikrāntavarman has installed both of them — the spotless Moon which is the sheath of Īśānesvara, and the Sun which is the crown of Bhadreśvara — bound together in their ascendancy.

X. Īśāna here, who cannot be cut, who cannot be split, who is primordial, who heals the misery (kṣata) of all his followers here below, himself, with his body damaged, pronounced this, which is to be proclaimed by the competent: the king Vikrāntavarman, having covered that damaged [liṅga], which is specially desired by Īśāna, (although he) has eight manifestationsOn the eight manifestations of Śiva (which are different from the eight names listed by A.-V. Schweyer in 181), see 368. (in which he already resides), with the Moon which is the silver sheath, and with nothing else, triumphs, respected by many!

XI. … shines, breaking forth from Īśāna's silver sheath (which emits white rays of light), like the mountain of sunrise being shrouded by lightning. [The white light] is the fame of the king Prakāśadharman!There is probably a pun here on the name Prakāśadharman, which contains the word prakāśa meaning 'radiance'. But the lacuna in the text prevents us from understanding the exact significance of the poet's choice of words here. As it stands, our translation is based on the assumption that the image of the comparison lies in the sun, comparable to the liṅga's crown, being on top of the mountain (comp. to the liṅga), surrounded by lightning (comp. to the silver sheath or its rays of white light). Fame is usually regarded as white in Sanskrit poetry, so that it should be compared to the rays of the silver sheath, not to the light of the golden crown. The lacuna would, we suppose, have contained an expression for Śiva with his golden crown. The Śiva in the liṅga is of course invisible to the common eye but can be visualized by meditation.

TO BE SUPPLIED

First published, with French translation, in 925-928 whence, with English translation, in 28-31; whence 21-23 Newly edited in 229-233, whence the present edition.

402180-18213-14