Sanskrit titles of two Pagan kings in Pali and Sanskrit inscriptions

Zaitsev Ivan Alekseevich ORCID: 0000-0002-0883-059X PHD student, department of Southeast Asia history, IAAS MSU 125222, Russia, Moscow region, Moscow, Zelenogradskaya str., 18 gorniy_strannik@mail.ru

IntroductionIn studies of the political history of medieval Myanmar, epigraphic monuments are of great importance, because they reflect information about the ruler, his relatives, as well as about the deeds he committed.

In such sources, the figure of the monarch was described in a special way, which could include the use of a royal title, a set of laudatory epithets (characteristics of the king), as well as an indication of the family tree of the rulers.

The article is devoted to the study of the royal titles of the two rulers of the first Burmese state of Pagan, which existed from 1044 to 1368. These rulers were Chanzita (1044-1112/13) and Elaunsitu (1112/13-1167). An important issue that is addressed in the study is the specific form of writing royal titles, the spelling of which allows the use of two lexical forms characteristic of the Pali and Sanskrit languages. The significance of such a phenomenon is betrayed by the fact that Pagan was a political center that was under the overwhelming influence of Theravada Buddhism. This presupposed a focus on the Pali language as one of the main languages of the canon and political culture. Despite this, among the monuments of epigraphy in Pali, as well as in ancient Burmese, there is the use of Sanskrit borrowings or words that observe the spelling of Sanskrit, the use of which was not widespread among Theravada Buddhism. This specificity makes it possible to study this phenomenon.

No special scientific works were devoted to the use of titles by Pagan rulers that take into account the Sanskrit spelling norm. In the currently known publications on the political history of this state, such titles were mistakenly classified as Pali ^{[1; 10; 13; 14; 17]}. The study of this issue will clarify a number of observations and provide an opportunity for further comparison of the system of recording the royal titles of the rulers of Pagan XI-XII centuries with the recording of the titles of the sovereigns of other Buddhist countries of the Pan-Indian cultural area. This determines the relevance of conducting such source studies. 

As the sources of this research, the author considers a series of 12 epigraphic monuments in Pali and Sanskrit, which consists of inscriptions on clay tablets and stone steles ^{[6; 13, pp. 13-15]}. The selection of possible sources was specially reduced to inscriptions in canonical languages in order to fix such a phenomenon on a limited number of texts. In the future, it is planned to conduct research on a broader material.

Sources: genres, types of native speakers and languages   In studies on the epigraphy of Southeast Asia, several independent genres of texts are distinguished, which include:

1) gift inscriptions; 2) judicial inscriptions; 3) inscriptions-recitations of canonical texts; 4) signatures of any objects or signatures of iconographic, sculptural images ^{[9, pp. 988-989]}. This classification can also be applied to inscriptions found on the territory of Myanmar, due to the uniformity of their content and similarity with their counterparts from other regions of Southeast Asia.

This study examines the texts of gift inscriptions. These sources perpetuate the fact of a symbolic good deed (Skt. d?na): the making of a gift by a ruler or some other noble donor in favor of a Buddhist religious building or a community of monks ^{[11, p. 24]}. Making such gifts contributes to the accumulation of favorable karma among Buddhists, which caused their importance both in the past and to this day.

According to their content, the gift inscriptions included information about the donor himself, the object of donation, and also indicated the intentions of committing a good deed. According to their purpose, such sources could be considered legal documents, since they confirmed the right of individual Buddhist religious buildings (monasteries) to harvest from a specified territory.  

Two subgroups should be distinguished within the gift inscriptions: votive inscriptions and inscriptions on stone steles. Votive texts include small symbolic texts written on the surface of clay tablets, which after initial firing acquired a red-brown color and turned into terracotta. By their shape, such artifacts represented a small object of oval or rectangular shape. The content and volume of such texts were not large. The texts inscribed on the surface of the clay tablets had a sacred meaning and were not intended for public reading, and the artifacts themselves were placed in the reliquary of a Buddhist religious institution ^{[20, p. 678]}.  

The inscriptions intended for public reading were written on stone steles. In shape, such a monument resembles a rectangular slab with a characteristic rectangular base. In its structure, three parts can be distinguished: the base, the "trunk" and the pommel. The surface of the steles was subjected to a grinding process, after which the texts of the inscriptions themselves were placed on one, two or several sides by the carver.

The languages of the sources under consideration are Sanskrit and Pali. In the historiography of N. Rai, G. Luce and U Mya, a pattern was noted in the use of Nagari writing only for writing Sanskrit and Mon script for writing Pali texts ^{[16; 18]}. In the course of the current study, this point of view will undergo some additions and clarifications.

Titles of Chanzita Chanzita (Burm.

Kyansittha) was the third ruler of Pagan, who came to power as a result of usurpation. He ruled from 1084 to 1112/13 . In historiography , the tsar is known by his posthumous designations: Chanzita (Burm. Kyansittha) or Thilainschin (Burm. Thilaingshin) ^{[10; 13]}.

After his accession to the throne in 1084, the ruler assumes a special coronation title: tibhuvan?dicca, which translates from Pali as the sun of the three worlds [existence]. This title is directly related to the Buddhist idea of dividing the universe into three parts (pal. Tiloka): the world of desires (pal. k?maloka); the world of forms (pal. r?paloka); the world of non-forms (ar?paloka). Depending on the deeds performed and the accumulated karma, one or another being was given the opportunity to be reborn in the next birth in one of these worlds. Similar conceptual ideas of dividing the universe into three parts (Skt. tribhuvana) are also found in Hinduism, where the earth (bh?m?); heaven (svarga) and the underworld (Skt. p?t?la) are distinguished.

The use of the title, emphasizing the greatness of the ruler in the three worlds, distinguished Chanzita and his descendants from the previous dynasty of Pagan rulers, whose titles had direct references to the images of the deities of the Hindu pantheon ^[10;13]. It is worth noting that the reference to the image of the three parts of the universe is noted in the titles of many Buddhist rulers of the Pan-Indian cultural area.

Chanzita's use of such a title is known from epigraphic monuments that were made during his reign. These sources include both votive inscriptions on clay tablets and endowments on stone steles. Among the votive inscriptions, one can distinguish the use of two different donation formulas. By this term, the author means a separate repetitive semantic construction, which mentions information about the donor, his intentions, the object and object of the gift. The texts of the same donation formulas could be repeated on several clay tablets at once.

The first donation formula is a bilingual text of the same content in Sanskrit and Pali, written on three different tablets using Nagari and Mon types of writing.

Text ^{[13, p. 12]}:?ri tribhuvan?diytadevasya [Nagari's letter]

ri tribhuvan?dityadhammar?jassa [Mon script]

Translation:The suns of the three worlds [of existence]

The righteous ruler of the Sun of the three worlds of existence

According to its content, the text conveys the fact that the Pagan ruler made a symbolic gift. In the Sanskrit part, the title of the king is written in compliance with the spelling and grammatical norms of Sanskrit. It is noteworthy to add the affix –deva at the end, which can be interpreted in two ways: a reference to a symbolic deity, and in the meaning of "king", "monarch".

In the inscription on the pali, the grammatical norms of the genitive case are observed, which is expressed by the use of the ending -ssa. At the same time, the spelling of the title tribhuvan?ditya does not correspond to the norms of writing Pali. This is due to the fact that a number of ligatures (a combination of two and more graphemes) reproduce the original Sanskrit orthography. This material is clearly presented in Table No. 1.

Table No. 1. Comparison of the spelling of ligatures.

The table shows a comparison of the ligatures si, ti and cc, whose transliteration from Pali to Sanskrit reproduces the spelling ?r; tr; ty. Thus, the Sanskrit version of the title is used in the text being searched for.

The second donation formula is written on four clay tablets. The language of the text is Pali, written using the Mon script.

Text ^{[13; pp. 12-13]}: sir? tribhuvan?dityadhammar?jena attano atthena buddhabh?v?ya agitt? pratim? im?

Translation: This image is [made] by the righteous sun king of the three worlds [of existence] for the sake of receiving benefits [and] achieving the state of awakening

The second formula seems to be more meaningful than the first one. The text indicates the name of the donor and a number of intentions that provoked him to commit a good deed. Unlike the text of the first formula, the honorific syllable sir? is written taking into account the spelling of pali. Part of the royal title (tribhuvan?ditya), as in the inscriptions of the first group, is written using the orthographic norms of Sanskrit.

The donation inscriptions, the texts of which reproduce the title of Chanzita, include: an inscription found near the town of Schweisando, the text of which is written in the Mon language, but with the presence of a small fragment in Pali; the inscription of Prince Rajakumar, the text of which was compiled after the death of Chanzita.

The fragment on the pali from the inscription from the town of Schweisando is written as follows:

Text ^{[6, p. 162]}:  [kato] Dhammar?jena satthun? varabh?pati yo ?r? Tribhuvan?dityadhammar?

j? ti n?mako. Velubabbanna j? m?t? pit? ?diccavansajo dv?hi vanse hin?bh?to dhammar?j?….

Translation: [Made] by a righteous king, a perfect ruler named the sun of the three worlds [of existence].

[His] mother was born in a bamboo family, [his] father was born in a solar family. The righteous king was born in two generations.

The title of the king begins with the use of the honorific syllable ?r?, the spelling of which takes into account the norms of Sanskrit spelling. It is followed by the characteristic title Tribhuvan?ditya, whose spelling follows the norms of Sanskrit. It should be noted that there are two different spelling spellings of the word "sun" in the text: aditya and adicca, which may indicate a deliberately special use of the Sanskrit spelling variant in the royal title.

The inscription mentions the genealogy of the ruler, according to which the monarch was represented by a native of two symbolic clans: bamboo and solar. Similar mentions of the genealogical origin of the rulers on the paternal and maternal lines are found in the descriptions of the rulers of the Buddhist and Hindu kingdoms of the Pan-Indian cultural area, which allows us to consider such phenomena in a general context ^{[2; 11]}.

The second source is the inscription of Prince Rajakumar, which is written in four languages: Pali, Pyu, Mon and Ancient Burmese. The article examines a fragment of an inscription on pali with a mention of the title of Chanzita.

Text: arimaddanan?masmi? pure ?si mahabbalo r?j?

tibhuvan?dicco udicc?dicca va?sajo||

Translation: In that city of Arimaddan there lived a king with great power

The sun of the three worlds [of existence], born in a majestic solar dynasty

            In the Rajakumara inscription, the title of Chanzita tibhuvan?dicca is written with the use of Pali orthographic norms, which is caused by the use of ti and cc ligatures. This distinguishes the inscription from all the cases considered earlier, where the royal title has a Sanskrit spelling. The ruler is referred to as "[possessing] great power" (pal. mahabbalo), instead of the usual title dhammaraaja "righteous ruler". This indicates a symbolic reference to the image of Chakkavattin, the Buddhist universal ruler, and also emphasizes the great military power of Chanzita. As in the "Schweisando inscription", the origin of the king from the symbolic Buddhist solar dynasty is indicated, but there is no mention of his father and mother.

Titles of Elauncitu Elaunxitu was the fourth ruler of Pagan, who ruled from 1112/13 to 1167. "Elaunxitu" (Burm. alaungsithu or sithu) can be considered one of the possible posthumous designations of the ruler, which he was called in later epigraphic monuments.

The throne title of the king is known as tibhuvan?diccapavaradhammar?ja, which looks almost identical to the title of Chanzita except for the addition of the pavara component. From the Pali language, the title translates as "the perfect righteous ruler, the sun of the three worlds [of existence]."

In historiography, it is believed that this king was the grandson of Chanzita, but this statement is controversial, since it is based on the interpretation of the text of only one inscription dated by paleography to a later time ^{[6, p. 83]}.  

Votive inscriptions made during the reign of Elaunsitu reproduce only one donation formula. The text is written using the Mon script in the Pali language ^{[13, p. 14]}.   

Text ^{[13, p. 14]}:?r? tribhuvan?dityapavaradhammar?j? d?napati

Translation: The Giver is the righteous ruler, the perfect sun of the three worlds [of existence]

The spelling of the word d?napati is identical in both Pali and Sanskrit. The text begins with the use of the sacred syllable ?r?, instead of the similar Pali form sir?. Then comes the title tribhuvan?ditya with the observance of Sanskrit orthography. The word dhammar?ja uses the mm ligature, which corresponds to Pali norms. Nevertheless, all the words in the text are in the form of a single nominative case, which has the same endings in Pali and in Sanskrit. This situation makes it possible to define the language as a hybrid Sanskrit or as Pali, reflecting the spelling of Sanskrit in the royal title. In the event that the assumption about the use of Sanskrit is correct, then the example of the source you are looking for can be considered an argument in favor of using the Mon script to write texts in Sanskrit.

The title of the king is mentioned in the text of the inscription of the stupa "Shveguchi". The text of the source is carved on both sides on the surface of a sandstone stone stele and, in its content, is a poem praising the good qualities of the Buddha and the Burmese king, who performed a good deed: the construction of a cult structure followed by the donation of property in his favor. As G. Luce notes, the text sought is not original and is a later copy based on the study of paleography ^{[13, p. 85]}.

In the inscription , the title of the king is indicated for the first time in lines 18-20:

Text ^{[13, pp. 85-88]}:tibhuvan?diccapava

ra dhammar?j? ti vissuto|| r?j? ?si mah?pao saddhammasavane rato|| rajja? dhammena k?rento so samena

nar?dhipo…..

Translation:There was a king known as the perfect righteous ruler, the sun of the three worlds [of existence] very wise, [extremely] enthusiastic in hearing [Buddhist sermons] and instructions.

He reigned inseparably with the dhamma!

The presented fragment contains the praise of the symbolic appearance of the king: there are enumerations of his good qualities aimed at forming the image of a righteous Buddhist ruler. The title of the king is written taking into account the observance of the spelling norms of Pali as tibhuvan?diccapavaradhammar?ja. Unlike the Chanzita inscriptions, the Shveguzhi inscription does not contain information about the ruler's attribution to symbolic Buddhist clans.

The title of the ruler is also mentioned in another fragment of the inscription, which occupies lines 41-43:

Text:?r? tibhuvan?dityapavaradhammar?jena sati dhiti mati gati

sampannena bodhisambh?ra gavesakena ratanattaya bhattikena nibb?nagave sakena pati?h?pit? aya? sil?

 lekh?ti

Translation:This inscription on the stone of the righteous ruler [by name]

The sun of the three worlds [of existence], [radiating] calm, brave, prudent, successful, [radiating] wisdom, eager (to accumulate) the means leading to [enlightenment], devoted to the three jewels (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha), [being] in search of the road [to] Nirvana.

In the sense of the presented fragment contains panegyric constructions praising the symbolic appearance of the king. Unlike the previous fragment, part of the king's title is written using Sanskrit spelling norms. The text begins with the use of the Sanskrit sacred syllable ?r?, as well as the title tribhuvan?ditya, the variant of which corresponds to the Sanskrit analogues from other sources considered in the article. Thus, in the Pali inscription of Shveguzhi, the use of both variants of the royal title is noted, which may indicate the absence of a fixed standard for recording the royal title. 

The use of Sanskrit borrowings: causes and consequences In the course of the study, it was found that in the inscriptions in Sanskrit and Pali, a variant of writing part of the royal title is allowed, taking into account the spelling norms of Sanskrit.

Such a component is tribhuvan?ditya. Before the title, it is also possible to use the honorific Sanskrit syllable ?r?.

In all the considered inscriptions on clay tablets, regardless of their language and writing, the titles of Pagan kings were written only in Sanskrit, which can be interpreted by the specifics of the genre of inscriptions on votive tablets.

During the analysis of the texts of the sources, it was found that in the votive inscriptions written in the Pali language, there could be individual words that comply with the norms of Sanskrit spelling. Such an observation makes it possible to clarify the conclusions of the previous historiography and refute the assumption that the Mon script was used only for writing pali ^{[13; 18]}. The recording of individual words observing the spelling of Sanskrit, as well as entire votive inscriptions in hybrid Sanskrit, could be carried out using the Mon script.

In the pali inscriptions carved on stone steles, the titles of rulers could be written both in the Sanskrit way and comply with the norms of the original Pali spelling. For example, in the Pali fragment of the inscription from the town of Shweisando and the Rajakumar inscription in Pali, the title of Chanzita was written in compliance with the spelling norms of both Sanskrit and Pali. The spelling of the title entry could change within a single source, as exemplified by the Shvegucha inscription. The presence of such discrepancies can be interpreted by the absence of a strict standard for recording the ruler's title.

An important problem of the current study is the interpretation of the reasons that prompted medieval scribes to write down parts of the titles of Pagan rulers in compliance with the norms of Sanskrit spelling. This phenomenon occurred with the complete predominance of Theravada Buddhism and the corresponding culture of writing texts in the Pali language. Despite this, the insignificant use of Sanskritisms in texts in Pali, Mon and Ancient Burmese was possible, which is confirmed by evidence from synchronous and later sources. Such observations may indicate the familiarity of the Pagan population with the Sanskrit written culture.

The use of Sanskrit orthography norms to record part of royal titles can be interpreted by the following factors: the possible influence of Sanskrit written culture and the presence of the institute of brahmins at the royal court of Pagan rulers in the chronological period under consideration. Brahmin Communities (Burm. pu?n?) in the strict sense of their meaning did not represent separate trends of Hinduism competing with Theravada, but were integrated into the royal court of Buddhist rulers for the purpose of conducting coronation ceremonies (Skt. abhi?eka), as well as the implementation of a number of astrological predictions. The participation of brahmins in sacred rituals held at the royal court was a common practice in various Theravada political centers ^[19].

The performance of sacred rituals provided for the acquaintance of brahmins with Indian written monuments, the language of which was Sanskrit. In this context, it can be assumed that during the coronation ceremony, the ruler could be given both a Pali and a Sanskrit title, which had equal significance and were subsequently used in paperwork.

The phenomenon of the ruler's support of the Brahmins is known from the history of many Buddhist political centers of the Pan-Indian cultural area. In some cases, such support could also influence the features of the description of the ruler's figure. Thus, in the history of the Arakan kingdoms, located on the territory of the national region of the same name in Myanmar, the kings, along with the support of Mahayana Buddhism, sponsored the construction of Brahman shrines. In such a situation, some rulers of Arakan proclaimed themselves to come from the symbolic family of Ishi (Shiva) (Skt. Invaya), while emphasizing their commitment to Buddhism ^[19].   

In the history of Pagan, based on the available sources, it seems hardly possible to conclude that there are forms of Hinduism or Buddhism independent of Theravada, which could act as alternative Theravada religions that attracted the attention of rulers. Nevertheless, the practice of supporting small Brahmin shrines on a par with Buddhist monasteries was possible, which is confirmed by some reports from extant sources and archaeological data. The support of the brahmins could also influence the use of titles by kings. For example, in one of the "biographical inscriptions" of Chanzita, the Shaivite title paramisvara is used, which allows us to draw some analogies with the history of Arakan and other Buddhist political centers of east Bengal ^[6;19]. 

It is also important to take into account the point of view of the American Buddhologist M. Mendelssohn, who pointed out the presence of the influence of Brahmanism in Burmese Buddhism of the XI-XII centuries, which could seriously distinguish it from modern forms ^[15]. In this context, the use of Sanskrit orthography to record part of the royal titles of Pagan rulers in Pali inscriptions seems rational.

Conclusion The phenomenon of the use of royal titles observing the spelling of Sanskrit in Pali inscriptions found on the territory of modern Myanmar has not received special research in the scientific literature.

This phenomenon could be provoked by a whole set of factors, which include: acquaintance of the population of Myanmar in the XI-XII centuries with the written culture of Sanskrit; support by the rulers of the Brahman community, as well as the influence of Brahmanism on Burmese Buddhism. 

In this study, the phenomenon under consideration is traced by the example of the use of the Sanskrit component of the title tribhuvan?ditya and the Pali component tibhuvan?dicca in Pali inscriptions.  It was found that the use of different components in the titles of Burmese rulers was not fixed.