Khmer inscription of Angkor Borei (K. 557)
Inscripción jemer de Angkor Borei (K. 557)
- Date
- 611 · confidence high
- Place
- Angkor Borei, Takéo, Cambodia
- Credited to
- Scribes of the Chenla/late Funan kingdom
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What was discovered
A stele with the oldest dated text in Old Khmer, of Saka year 533 (611). It already shows a local language written in an alphabet derived from the Pallava script of southern India.
Earlier Cambodian Sanskrit inscriptions exist (5th century); 611 is the oldest date in Old Khmer.
What it led to
- Khmer script, basis of the Angkor inscriptions and the modern Cambodian alphabet
- a record of donations and local law in the vernacular
- evidence for the spread of Indian script in mainland Southeast Asia