Oldest Indian inscription found in Southeast Asia so far: Tamil-Brahmi potsherd from Phu Khao Thong, Thailand (~2nd century CE)
The Vo Canh inscription from Vietnam is usually cited as the earliest Indian inscription in Southeast Asia. It is written in Sanskrit and is generally dated to around the 2nd–3rd century CE.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vo_Canh_inscription
However, a lesser-known discovery from Phu Khao Thong in southern Thailand may actually be older.
At this site on the Thai–Malay Peninsula, archaeologists discovered a potsherd with a short Tamil-Brahmi inscription. The region was an important node in early Indian Ocean maritime trade, linking South India, Southeast Asia, and the wider Indo-Roman trade network.
The fragment preserves three Tamil-Brahmi letters, usually read approximately as:
tu-ra-o
The inscription was examined by the Indian epigraphist Iravatham Mahadevan, who identified the script as Tamil-Brahmi and suggested that the fragment may belong to the word “turavon”, meaning “monk” or “ascetic.”
Based on the palaeography of the script and the archaeological context, the potsherd is usually dated to around the 2nd century CE.
If this dating is correct, the Phu Khao Thong inscription represents the oldest Indian inscription found in Southeast Asia so far, slightly earlier than or roughly contemporary with the Vo Canh Sanskrit inscription.
The discovery is important because it suggests that Tamil-speaking traders or monks were already present in Southeast Asia before the appearance of Sanskrit royal inscriptions, indicating that early contact between South India and Southeast Asia was likely driven by trade networks and religious mobility rather than state expansion.
Sources
Posted Mar 4, 2026, 7:14 AM UTC