giving an account of this dynasty. The estampage,
translation and transcription of this inscription are
given in Le Siam Ancien of if. Fournereau and in
the second volume of Etudes diverses of the Pavie
Mission, also in the Journal of the Siarn Society by
Dr. Bradley (1909) and in B. E. F. E-O in 1916.
This inscription was brought to Bangkok in 1834 by
king Mongkut while he was a priest. Of this inscrip-
tion, Dr. O. Frankfurter says: "It is a typical Bud-
dhist inscription, recording, not so much deeds of war
and conquest, but the happiness which the people of
the realm enjoyed in the reign of Phra Ramkamheng,
what he did for the culture of the people, tow le
understood the Buddhist religion, what are the maxims
of Government by which he was guided, how he was
the first to use the written Thai characters for record.
......of course attempts have been made to explain it.
We have first a version given by Professor Bastian in
the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol.
XXXIV (1864). He simply recorded what the
scholars in King Mongkut's reign told him; no attempt
was made to elucidate doubtful points, and he did not
publish the original version by which to control it.
We have also in Bowring's Siam a short reference to
this inscription. But the first scholars who seriously
attempted an explanation was the late Pere Schmitt.
He gave two different versions, first in the Excursions
et Reconnaisancts, Vol. V11 and later in the Mission
Pavie, (Paris, 1898). There are small differences in