28 On some Siamese Inscriptions. [No. 1, 



forms of their Pali alphabet for profane uses, but have never employed 

 two distinct alphabets, as has been the case in Siam. The introduction 

 of the Pali alphabet in Ultra-India, is connected everywhere with the 

 arrival of Buddhaghosa, the Brahmin of Maghacla, who visited Ceylon 

 to translate the Atthakatha, but the invention of their vernacular 

 alphabet is ascribed by the Siamese to their favourite king Phra- 

 Buang, whose exact date is a great point of controversy amongst them. 

 In the Phongsavadan Miiang ntia, or the history of the northern towns, 

 it is said, that Phaya Ruang, (who was carried by Jus kite to foreign 

 lands, like the Raja of Dewaju), invented for the nations, subjected to 

 his rule, the Xieng thai (Siamese strokes or letters), the Xieng mon 

 (Peguan letters), the Xieng khom (Cambodian letters), and the now 

 unusual employment of the word Xieng (inclined or oblique) seems 

 to have reference to the straight and angular shape of the Siamese 

 letters, (recalling the ancient alphabets of the Bugis and Battas in the 

 Eastern Archipelago), in contradistinction to the circular one of the 

 Pali. But without going farther into the claims of Phaya Ruang to 

 the invention of the alphabet, a subject which would require a disser- 

 tation by itself, I shall lay before you the translation of an old stone- 

 inscription, found at Sukhothai, (the ancient capital of Siam during the 

 reign of Phaya Ruang and before him,) and placed at present in the 

 palace of Bangkok, by the order of the reigning king. You will see 

 that the king mentioned in it under the name of Ramkhamheng, 

 assigns to himself the honour of having invented the written character, 

 which he, (a very interesting circumstance,) calls Lai-su. The present word 

 for books in the Siamese language is Nangsti, pronounced by a fanciful 

 whim and against all rules of Siamese grammar, as Nong-su. Nang-su 

 means verbally the writing on skins (nang), and thus illustrates in a strik- 

 ing way, the old traditions of the Lawa, Karen, &c, regarding the former 

 existence of parchment books, and it appears that the Siamese, a 

 people of quite recent growth, as they could not understand the reason 

 for the appellation, gave intentionally a different pronunciation, al- 

 though they retained the original spelling, a manner of proceeding, 

 which could be illustrated by many similar examples in the Siamese 

 language. The other term Lai-su " would, according to the same 

 analogy, mean writing in (various) colours, or writing in stripes." A 

 Chinese officer who visited Cambodia in the year 1295, says of the 



