The Dhamma wheel from Chainat, Thailand: an epigraphic excerpt from the Pali Dhammacakkappavattana, and related finds

Abstract

Stone-carved “wheels of Dhamma” (dhammacakkas) symbolizing the Buddha’s enduring teachings constitute an aesthetic corpus of objects once raised on columns set in ornate bases. These dhammacakkas were produced in central Thailand in the second half of the first millennium during the Dvāravatī period. Some carry Pali inscriptions which bear witness to the state of the Pali textual tradition in central Siam in the seventh to ninth centuries. Given that no Pali manuscripts from South or Southeast Asia from this early period survive, these epigraphic witnesses are extremely important. This research article presents inscriptions inscribed on a Dvāravatī-period dhammacakka and an octagonal pillar recovered in Thailand’s Chainat province. A closer examination of the epigraphs has allowed us to give improved readings of the available fragments. This has enabled us to present what may be described as the oldest extant recension of the core passages of the Pali Dhammacakkappavattana, Gotama the Buddha’s first teaching.