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241 Chapter 18 Kalpanā in Ancient Cambodia Saveros Pou Abstract The word kalpanā, of Sanskrit origin, is widely used in Old Khmer epigraphy (seventh to fourteenth century); later, during the sixteenth century, it was replaced by Khmer words. Its 1,000-year history thus attests to a strong association with the Khmer community. And yet the word has never been properly defined. I have now undertaken a thorough investigation, concentrating on the texts of Khmer speakers as the best mirror of the ancient society, and concluded that kalpanā, as well as meaning ‘offerings, ritual preparation’, can also have the sense of an ‘injunction’ which entailed a magical power. Consequently, people who failed to comply with such kalpanā were doomed to endure all kinds of punishment. This historical semantic survey of kalpanā has thus opened up a new way of penetrating certain rituals in ancient Cambodian society. Sthāpanā and Kalpanā George Cœdès translated kalpanā as ‘offerings, ritual preparation’. I did the same [Pou 1992, 2004 (Figure 18.1)], although I was not entirely happy with this, because I felt that there was much more Fig 18.1 Saveros Pou being congratulated on the publication of the Old Khmer-French English Dictionary. 18 ISEA.indd 241 6/6/08 10:28:36 AM 242 SAVEROS POU to the word. I have therefore conducted an extensive semantic historical survey-exploring all the edited texts,1 scanning all the occurrences, paying attention not only to words but also to various connected phrases, and scrutinizing the grammatical structure of the texts. Apart from the many epigraphic texts I edited and published, there are also Mss. on judicial matters, called kram, which I was lucky to read during a few years with a talented doctoral student of mine (Mikaelian 2006). I also had the great good fortune to come upon a longish Old Khmer inscription discovered in 1994 at O Smach (Oudor Meanchey Province), which I studied and published in 2001 (Pou 2001, III: 240–60). This threw a brilliant light on the entire subject and enabled me to assemble all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle and to make better sense of the texts. It behoves me to point out at the outset that the theme kalpanā is closely linked with that of sthāpanā. So, if I may speak metaphorically, I shall review the epigraphy as a two-act play whereby kalpanā stands as the second act. Therefore, let us briefly present the semantic content of sthāpanā as an Old Khmer lexical element. Sthāpanā, a Sanskrit loanword, refers as a noun to ‘the performing of pious deeds, meritorious acts’, and as a verb ‘to accomplish those acts’ in the broadest sense, as exemplified by the performing of ‘sacrifice’, building of temples, erection of sacred effigies (of deities as well as of parents and guru), building of āśrama, creation of villages with their ponds, roads, and paths, recording of sacred commands on stone called praśasta, i.e. our stone inscriptions, not to forget all sorts of restoration work to damaged statues, deserted villages and āśrama. The most solemn cases of sthāpanā were recorded in the earliest texts, the Pre-Angkorian (P.A.) inscriptions, indicating performance of ‘sacrifice’ of the Vedic type, or yajña. Although we lack substantial details on the matter, we learn that a yajña-ceremony could spread over a long time and was then termed sattra, ‘sacrificial session’. Some sessions might be stretched over a longer period and termed dīrghasattra or ‘long sacrificial session’, as in the Phnom Kamrieng Inscription (K. 154; Cœdès 1931–66, II: 123). Yajña could be performed to worship the ‘sacred fire’ (vraḥ vlen), male ancestors (pitryajña), divine mothers (mātryajña) (K.18), Śiva or the Buddha (Śivayajña, buddhayajña). One very important type was called vrahmayajña, literally ‘sacrifice to Brahmā’, which is defined by Indologists as a solemn sacrifice consisting mostly of Vedic recitation. The reason I so insist on yajña is its social implication. The devout person who ordered this ceremony was called yajamāna, as in India. Given the high cost of such religious performances, which incidentally were accompanied by lavish gifts and alms, yajamāna were well-off people, among the upper social classes or the rulers of the country. In addition, they could be viewed as influential personages, accustomed to giving orders and being...

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