The Wat Pu Bua Inscription A New Translation, Dating, Historical and Fictional Contexts

Abstract

The Wat Pu Bua Inscription was inscribed by the Tham Lanna script, but it was found in Suphanburi. Why was the script of the Northern region found in the Central region? And which period does it associated to relationship between Ayutthaya and Lanna? Although its Pali text and translation of some words into Thai were published, its full Thai translation had not been done yet. For solving this problem, this research translated completely the Pali text into Thai, and calibrated the lunar calendar’s date of the inscription into the modern Thai calendar system for interpreting historical context. The result indicates that purpose of the inscription was to announce benevolence of the chief of Suphanburi and his wife who was Lamphun-born people in founding a Buddha’s Image for the city. That is why the Tham Lanna script was used as a religious expression of her ethnic believes. Although there are twenty-six possible dates corresponding to the inscription, the most possible one is Sunday 21^st April 2089 BE (1546 AD, proleptic Gregorian calendar), which followed the day that King Chairachathirat seized Lamphun city around four months later. It is possible that a Lamphun noble woman was captured as prisoner of war, and then transferred to become a wife of the chief of Suphanburi. By the way, this time interval might be contemponeous with the Khun Phaen' Legend, in which Khun Phaen's estimated age, the Ayutthaya-Lanna war, and his marriage with Nang Lao Thong, a Lanna woman. These might be hints of the fact in the fiction.