Pravarasena
7th century monarch in Yasothon, Thailand
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Pravaraṣeṇa or Śrīmān Pravaraṣeṇa was a ruler mentioned in the Don Mueang Toei Inscription, a short Sanskrit epigraph discovered at the ancient site of Don Mueang Toei in present-day Yasothon province.[1]: 83–4 [2]: 95–6 The inscription, written in the Pallava script and dated paleographically to around the 7th century CE,[1]: 93–4 refers to him as the lord of the city of Śaṅkhapura.[1]: 95 The text is one of the few early inscriptions from the Mun–Chi river basin that records a named local ruler.[3]
| Pravarasena | |
|---|---|
| Local king | |
| King of Śaṅkhapura | |
| Reign | 7th century |
| Predecessor | Unknown |
| Successor | Kroñcavāhu? |
| Issue | Kroñcavāhu |
The inscription indicates that Pravaraṣeṇa was the ruler of Śaṅkhapura and mentions the establishment of a liṅga shrine associated with the worship of the Hindu god Shiva.[1]: 95–6 The brief record suggests that the settlement at Don Mueang Toei was a Brahmanical religious center and may have been identified with the city of Śaṅkhapura mentioned in the text.[1]: 91 Scholars have proposed that the polity represented by the inscription may have been connected to, or influenced by, the expanding sphere of the early Chenla polities that were active in the middle Mekong region during such a period.[3][4]
Some scholars have proposed alternative interpretations of the lineage mentioned in the inscription, suggesting that Pravaraṣeṇa may have had a son named Kroñcavāhu, who in turn fathered a group of powerful sons, the youngest of whom was known as Śrī Añjali.[5]
Don Mueang Toei inscription
The Don Mueang Toei Inscription (จารึกดงเมืองเตย; catalogue numbers ยส. 6 and K. 1082) was discovered in 1983 by officials of the Fine Arts Department at the archaeological site of Don Mueang Toei in Song Pueai Subdistrict, Kham Khuean Kaeo District, Yasothon Province.[3] The inscribed object is a rectangular sandstone slab bearing four lines of Sanskrit written in the Pallava script.[1]: 93 [3]
Early documentation of the inscription initially caused confusion because photographs of the text were transmitted as four separate images, leading scholars to believe that they represented four different inscriptions. Later reanalysis showed that the images were in fact sections of a single inscribed slab. When the photographs were correctly reassembled, the text could be read coherently and subsequently published in studies of early inscriptions from northeastern Thailand.[3]
Historical context
The inscription records the construction of a liṅga shrine by an offspring of Kroñcavāhu (or Kroñjapāhu; โกรญจพาหุ), who is identified in the text as the twelfth member of his lineage. The dedication took place under the authority of Śrīmān Pravaraṣeṇa, described as the ruler of Śaṅkhapura.[2]: 95–6
Archaeologically, the Don Mueang Toei site is a moated settlement surrounded by earthen ramparts and located roughly one kilometer east of the modern village of Song Pueai (บ้านสงเปือย). Such moated sites are characteristic of early urban communities in the Mun–Chi basin.[1]: 83–4 The presence of Sanskrit inscriptions and Shaivite religious foundations in the region has been interpreted as evidence of political and cultural connections with the wider network of early mainland Southeast Asian polities influenced by Indian religious traditions and by the expanding power of early Chenla in the middle Mekong region.[4]
Possible identification of Śaṅkhapura
Some scholars have suggested that the ancient settlement at Don Mueang Toei may correspond to the city of Śaṅkhapura mentioned in the inscription. However, this identification remains uncertain because the inscription itself does not explicitly state that the sanctuary was located within that city.[1]: 91
In discussions of the region’s historical geography, scholars have also noted local traditions recorded in the late 19th century by the French explorer Étienne Aymonier near the town of Sangkha in present-day Surin Province. These traditions refer to a place called Sarikhapura, which has been tentatively linked by some researchers to the toponym Śaṅkhapura mentioned in the inscription.[1]: 92