The interpretation of a Sanskrit inscription in the ancient Brunei script
This short note by Arvind Sharma offers a revised interpretation of a Sanskrit inscription in the ancient Brunei script, previously deciphered by Miss Kongkae Weeraprajak of the Thai National Library, arguing that its meaning is better understood through the eschatology of Mahayana Buddhism.
Sharma notes that the inscription, found on a lotus-shaped stone at Ujong Tanjong cemetery behind the Makam di Raja, has been read by Kongkae as a wish for “goodness” to attend the “going to dust” of four beings, “as excellent as the diamond.” Sharma contends that this translation obscures the Buddhist element of the text. Drawing on the Mahayana concept of Pure Lands (buddha-ksetra)—realms built of precious stones such as diamonds in which the departed hope to be reborn—he argues that the words anavara (“without badness,” i.e. pure) and vajragavucchri strongly suggest a wish for the departed to attain such a Pure Land destiny (p. 101). He also notes that the syntax of Kongkae’s translation is questionable, as svasti in Sanskrit functions as an opening or closing benediction rather than a sentence-internal element (p. 101).