Jayasimhavarman (Phu Khiao)

Jayasimhavarman of Phu Khiao was a ruler known from the Phu Khiao Kao inscription (K.404), a Sanskrit inscription discovered at the ancient site of Phu Khiao Kao (เมืองเก่าภูเขียว) in present-day Chaiyaphum Province, northeastern Thailand.^[1][2]: 89 The text, engraved on a stone pillar and written in an early form of Old Khmer script, is palaeographically dated to around the 7th–8th centuries^{[2]: 90 [3]: 77} and appears to form part of a royal eulogy (praśasti) praising a ruler referred to as Śrī Jayasimhavarmanrāja.^[2]: 90

The inscription was first reported in the early 20th century by the Danish antiquarian Erik Seidenfaden and later studied by the French epigraphist George Cœdès, who catalogued it as K.404 in Inscriptions du Cambodge.^[1][4]

The identity and political affiliation of Jayasimhavarman remain uncertain. Cœdès suggested that the inscription may refer to a local ruler of an inland polity in mainland Southeast Asia, possibly associated with the formations described in Chinese sources as Land Chenla or Wen Dan.

The inscription was discovered near Huai Ma-ue (ห้วยมะอึ; formerly known as Nong Hin Tang หนองหินตั้ง) in the present-day Kaset Sombun District of Chaiyaphum Province. Early reports indicated that approximately 13 stone pillars were scattered across the area, two of which bore inscriptions.^[4] The site was first described in 1922 by Erik Seidenfaden in the Bulletin de l’École Française d’Extrême-Orient. At the time the locality was recorded as being within the district of Pak Bang (also known as Phu Khiao).^[4]

Later, the inscriptions from the site were studied by George Cœdès, who published them in Inscriptions du Cambodge (vol. VII). Cœdès distinguished two separate inscriptions from the locality and assigned them catalogue numbers K.404 and K.512.^{[4][5]: 72–5} The inscription containing the name Jayasimhavarman is K.404, often referred to as the Phu Khiao inscription. It consists of 11 lines of Sanskrit text engraved on a rectangular stone pillar. A second inscription from the same area, K.512, is much shorter and heavily eroded, containing only 4 lines of text.^[4]

Because both inscriptions were discovered at the same site, they have sometimes been confused in later references. The pillar bearing K.404 was later removed from the site and is now preserved at the National Museum in Phimai, Nakhon Ratchasima Province.^[1]

The Phu Khiao Inscription is written in Sanskrit and carved in a form of early Khmer script. The text consists of 11 lines and appears to be a fragment of a praśasti, composed of a series of laudatory epithets praising the ruler.^[1][2]: 90

Within the surviving lines, the inscription refers to a king named Śrī Jayasimhavarmanrāja. The text also mentions a person named Cuḍāmaṇī, described as being born of a woman named Lakṣmī.^[1] Because the inscription is fragmentary and the surviving estampage is of poor quality, a complete translation has not yet been established. Scholars suggest that Cuḍāmaṇī was a daughter of Harshavarman I.^[1]

Local traditions recorded in the early 12th century attribute the stone pillars to a legendary episode involving the construction of a Buddhist caitya. According to the legend, builders from Vientiane and Phitsanulok transported materials to the site but arrived after the monument had already been completed, leaving behind the stone pillars that remain visible today.^[2]: 90 Similar groups of stone pillars have also been reported from other locations in the region, particularly in Ubon Ratchathani province.^[2]: 90

Based on the palaeographic style of the script, scholars generally date the inscription to around the 7th–8th centuries.^{[2]: 90 [3]: 77} Cœdès noted that the name Jayasimhavarman does not correspond to any known ruler in the epigraphy of Cambodia and that, given the geographical context, it is unlikely to refer to the Cham king Jaya Simhavarman I, who ruled in the late 9th century. Instead, Cœdès suggested that the inscription may refer to a local ruler associated with an inland polity of mainland Southeast Asia, possibly connected with the political formations traditionally described in Chinese sources as Land Chenla or Wen Dan.^{[2]: 90 [3]: 77} However, the precise identity and political affiliation of Jayasimhavarman remain uncertain due to the fragmentary nature of the inscription.^[2]: 90