The epic Ramayana in Cham art: The “Wedding of Princess Sita” presented on the Trà Kiệu pedestal.

Abstract

The Ramayana in Cham art: The “Wedding of princess Sita” presented on the Trà Kiệu pedestal
Since its discovery in 1901, the Trà Kiệu pedestal has been interested in studying by French scholars. In 1929, Jean Przyluski interpreted these scenes as illustrations of the legend of King Kaudinya, the founder of Funan Kingdom. In 1931, George Cœdès continued to analyze them and disagreed with Przyluski’s interpretation; he identified them as illustrations of a literary work of Vaisnavite closely related to the Bhagavatapurana sutras. In 1963, Jean Boisselier commented that Cœdès gave the most convincing explanation for the content of the reliefs carved on the Trà Kiệu pedestal.
This paper proposes a new interpretation, different from that of Cœdès, in which the author proves that the four scenes shown on the Trà Kiệu pedestal are a “storytelling sculpture” narrating the “Wedding Ceremony of princess Sita” a theme from Vālmīki’s epic Ramayana; and this pedestal is related to a civilization of King Prakāçadharma also discovered in Trà Kiệu dating from about 657-687AD. Since then, it leads to a new judgment about the content as well as the chronology of the Trà Kiệu pedestal.