________________
JOLY, 1928)
BOOK-NOTICES
135.
one might have been tempted to think had been THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE INDO-EUROPEANS, by built by Yasovarman to enshrine the Devaraja- JARL CHARPENTIER. Two lectures delivered at linga, and to crown As & Saiva temple the structure the School of Oriental Studies, 10th and 17th commenced by one of his predecessors for the cult June, 1925, and published in its Bulletin. of Buddhism. He finds the Bayon to be Buddhis.
These very important lectures on a subject of the tic" from top to bottom." M. Finot disposes of
first consequence to students of antiquity rescusi. the arguments based upon the towers with four
tate the belief-once held to be settled--that the faces, which he had himself once suggested to be an Indo-Europeans sprang from Central Asia, East of architectural interpretation of a caturmukha liiga,
the Caspian Sea. Since that conclusion was arrived by pointing out that this feature is also to be found
at, others have sprung up, ascribing the origin of in temples that were indisputably Buddhistic, e.g.)
the Indo-Europeans to various parts of Europeat Bantły Chmar, Bantay Kdoi, Ta Prohm and Ta
Southern Russia being the most favoured locality. Som. To Yalovarman may very probably be assigned
Professor Charpentier gives reasons for believing the responsibility for the iconoclastic disfigurement
that the searcher has to fall back on Comparative by hammer and chisel of the Buddhistic figures,
Philology as the determining method of settling which have been camouflaged into Brahmanical
the question. Archæology has failed to show that rsis and otherwise. Who, then, was the original
the culture of very early times could have originated founder of the city ? M. Finot rejects Yasovar.
with ono people only, whose racial and linguistic man's two immediate predecessors Indra varman,
connections are known; and History commences too who adhered exclusively to Saiva doctrines, and
late. It is on Comparative Philology, therefore, Jayavarman III, who was a Vaignava, and more!
that Professor Charpentier concentrates his attention over reigned for but an insignificant period. Ho
and his criticism of the various efforts of scholars. inclines to the view that it must have been Jaya. Varman II Paramesvara, " great conquerer and great
With extreme caution he gets to work to establish builder," whose reign attained the extraordinary the "names (p. 152) of natural phenomena, of length of 67 years (802-869 A.D.). The Sdok Kak animals, plants, artificial objects, etc., which were Thom inscription tells us that he came from Javå to "to be found in the original Indo-European language, Ascend the throne of Cambodia, that he founded and and may consequently have existed in the names of occupied four capitals successively, and that he finally the Indo-Europeans," though "the results are not established the cult of Devaraja in order to aggert him. very far-reaching. But they are, according to my self as a cakrabartin sovereign, independent of Java, (Charpentier's] opinion, quite sufficient for allow. till then suzerain over Cambodia, l'he Java from which ing us to arrive at certain conclusion." He shows, he came was, according to M. Finot, in all probability by a consideration of the names that have come the Malay Peninsula, dependent at that time on the
down in history, that, whosoever they were, the Sumatran kingdom of Srivijaya, the history of which father of the Indo-Europeans lived in a mountain. from the latter half of the 7th tothe 15th century A.D. ous country with a temperate climate, but they has been so skilfully unveiled by the researches of did not know the lise of fish or shell fish. They used M. Gabriel Ferrand (l'Empire Sumatranais de Cri- the horse, however, for riding, and knew of the vijaya). That Aúkor Thom does not figure among the birch, willow and fir among trees, but had no capitals founded by Jayavarman II is explained by knowledge of fruit trees and vegetables. They prothe fact that the author of the inscription wished it bably could crush corn, and yet had no acquainto be thought that Yasovarman had established it. tance with salt. This was because they probably
In spite of the pre-eminence of Jayavarman II lived chiefly on meat and milk, and thus led a no and the great length of his reign, not a single ing madic life, being no agriculturists. They seem to cription dating from his sovereignty has hitherto have dressed in skins and woollen stuffs only, and been found; a fact which seems to suggest that the these they got from animals. They dwelt in "houseiconoclasm wrought under subsequent kings was not urns" or in "dug-outs" under ground. They had confined to images. The earliest epigraphical re- bows and arrows and, oddly enough, good carts cord dates from the time of Yasovarman. It is and wagons. They were in fact a nomadic people greatly to be hoped that further exploration by with considerable power of rapid movement. such zealous and competent workers may yet lead Their religious ideas were undeveloped and their soto the discovery of other records that may elucidate cial institutions were patriarchal, the blood feud, how the history of this old site.
ever, being a well-developed institution. They had a Among the inscriptions now transcribed attention cult of the spirits of their ancestors, which were nevermay be drawn to No. IV, which supplies further theless not usually malignant or blood-thirsty, and information as to the genealogy of Rajendravarman; they worshipped the great powers of Nature, especi No. X, which tells of an expedition of Jayavarman ally "the vault of heaven." They possessed neither VII to Campa, and of an invasion of Cambodia by temples nor idols, but worshipped their gods by simthe king of Campâ; and No. XI, which gives us the ple flesh sacrifices and gifts spread out on the grass." date of the wocession of Jayavarman VII and the Having enumerated such facts as the above, names of the four succeeding kings.
Professor Charpentier opines : " What has been said C.E. A. W. OLDHAM. (p. 159) may still be sufficient to convey the
