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Daniel Perret (ed.): Writing for Eternity: A Survey of Epigraphy in Southeast Asia. (Études Thématiques 30.) 478 pp. Paris: École française d'Extrême-Orient, 2018. €40. ISBN 978 2 85539 150 2.
This volume consists of eighteen articles, in English and French, with an introduction by the editor, presenting the proceedings of a workshop held in Malaysia in 2011. The first section consists of thirteen articles on inscriptions in Indian scripts and local Southeast Asian variants. This weighting is due to the fact that the great majority of ancient inscriptions in Southeast Asia were composed using such scripts, which have been the subject of over two centuries of scholarship. The second part is devoted to two articles on inscriptions in Chinese script; the third part presents three articles on inscriptions in Arabic and Arabic-derived scripts. The volume contains a combined bibliography and numerous colour photographs.
The first essay, by editor Daniel Perret, touches on the wide variety of languages found inscribed in Southeast Asia. Perret discusses many topics which are not addressed in the other chapters in the volume. He also gives an in-depth history of epigraphic studies in the region. This will be especially beneficial to students who lack the skills to read European languages such as French, Dutch, and German.
The first part of the book presents topics relating to Mainland Southeast Asia, before turning attention to Maritime Southeast Asia. Two...