Narai Cave

Narai Cave has at its entrance a three-line Mon inscription that Gerad Diffloth calls "the most spectacular Old Mon inscription of Thailand." It is among the oldest Mon inscriptions known, datable palaeographically to the sixth century C.E. There have been two published attempts at its translation.

The first is by Thoem Mittem and Champa Yuangcharoen: Kandarajaya, who founded the region Anuradhapura, gave authority to his uncle, Sinadha, who is representative together with the people, to arrange a ceremony of song and dance in order to commemorate [things] that have been placed inside here.

A very different reading is given by Nai Pan Hla: The governor of Anuradhapura and his wife, together with all the people of the city, crossed the cultivable land with singing and dancing. After the people chanted together, "God bless our victorious Lord,” all entered into the cave.

The oddly disparate readings, of what everyone says is clear and beautifully rendered script, may be partly due to the confusion caused by additions of red paint and scratched lines by modern monks. [Ref: The Dvāravatī Wheels of the Law and the Indianization of South East Asia - Robert L. Brown - BRILL, 1996]

Ayutthaya Historical Research