Georges Coedès

Georges Cœdès (10 August 1886 – 2 October 1969) was a 20th century scholar of southeast Asian archaeology and history. Coedès was born in Paris to a family of supposed Hungarian-Jewish emigres. In fact, the family was known as having settled in the region of Strasbourg (France) before 1740. His ancestors were working for the royal Treasury. His grandfather, Louis Eugène Coedès was a painter, pupil of Léon Coignet. His father Hyppolite worked as a banker. Coedès became director of the National Library of Thailand in 1918, and in 1929 became director of L'École française d'Extrême-Orient, where he remained until 1946. Thereafter he lived in Paris until he died in 1969. He wrote two seminal texts in the field, The Indianized States of Southeast Asia (1968, 1975) and The Making of South East Asia (1966), as well as innumerable articles, in which he developed the concept of the Indianized kingdom. However, the modern consensus is that the Indianization was less complete than Coedès had believed, with many indigenous practices surviving underneath the Indian surface.

Georges Coedès is credited with rediscovering the former kingdom of Srivijaya, centred around the modern-day Indonesian city of Palembang, but with influence extending from Sumatra through to the Malay Peninsula and Java. Some Indonesians, including those of the Palembang area, had not heard of Srivijaya until the 1920s, when Coedès published his discoveries and interpretations in Dutch and Indonesian-language newspapers., however amongst the educated elite and nobility the history of successive kingdoms and their fates and royal lineage were well known.

Decorations

Coedès received the following royal decoration in the Honours System of Thailand:

• 1919 – Commander (Third Class) of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant (Thailand)
• 1926 – Légion d'honneur (France).

Works

• Textes d'auteurs grecs et latins relatifs à l'Extrême-Orient depuis le av. J.-C. jusqu'au Template:S-, 1910
• « Études cambodgiennes », 1911-1956.
• « Le Royaume de Çrīvijaya », 1918.
• “Some Problems in the Ancient History of the Hinduized States of South-East Asia”, Journal of Southeast Asian History, Vol.5, No.2, pp.1-14.
• “À propos de l'origine des chiffres arabes”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, Vol.6, No.2, pp. 323-328. * La Stele de Ta-Prohm, [Hanoi, 190-?].
• “The Origins of the Sukhodaya Dynasty”, Journal of the Siam Society, Vol. 14.1, 1921
• Listes generales des inscriptions et des monuments du Champa et du Cambodge, Hanoi, Imprimerie d'Extreme-Orient, 1923.
• The Vajiranana National Library of Siam, Bangkok, Council of the National Library, 1924.
• « Documents sur l'histoire politique et religieuse du Laos occidental », 1925
• “Une exposition de sculptures Khmères et Siamoises au Musée Cernuschi”, Artibus Asiae, Vol.1, No.3 (1926), pp. 190-202.
• “À propos de la chute du royaume de Çrīvijaya”. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië, Deel 83, 2de/3de Afl. (1927), pp. 459-472.
• “The excavations at Pong Tuk and their importance for the ancient history of Siam”, Journal of the Siam Society, Vol.21, part 3, Mar. 1928, pp.195-209.
• “Études cambodgiennes: XXXI. Nouvelles notes sur tcheou ta-kouan, Befeo, II, pp. 148-151. Pa-sseu-wei”, T'oung Pao, Second Series, Vol. 30, No. 3/5 (1933), pp. 224-230.
• Un grand roi du Cambodge: Jayavarman VII, Phnom Penh, Editions de la Bibliotheque Royale, 1935.
• “L'origine du cycle des douze animaux au Cambodge”, T'oung Pao, Second Series, Vol.31, Livr.3/5 (1935), pp. 315-329.
• Inscriptions du Cambodge, Hanoi, Imp. d'Extreme-Orient, 1937-1966.
• Pour mieux comprendre Angkor, 1943.
• « Les stèles de Sdok Kok Thom, Phnom Sandak et Prah Vihar », 1943-1946
• Histoire ancienne des États hindouisés d'Extrême-Orient, 1944
• “Fouilles en Cochinchine: Le Site de Go Oc Eo, Ancien Port du Royaume de Fou-nan”, Artibus Asiae, Vol.10, No.3 (1947), pp. 193-199.
• Les Etats hindouisés d'Indochine et d'Indonésie, 1948 (Table of contents)
• «Un yantra recemment decouvert a Angkor» , Journal asiatique, Année 1952, p. [465]-477.
• “Une Roue de la Loi avec inscription en Pāli provenant du Site de P'ră Păthŏm”, Artibus Asiae, Vol.19, No.3/4 (1956), pp. 221-226.
• “The Traibhūmikathā Buddhist Cosmology and Treaty on Ethics”, East and West, Vol.7, No.4 (January 1957), pp. 349-352.
• “Note sur une stele indienne d'epoque Pāla decouverte a Ayudhyā (Siam)”, Artibus Asiae, Vol.22, No.1/2 (1959), pp. 9-14.
• “Les Môns de Dvāravatī”, Artibus Asiae. Supplementum, Vol.23, pp. 112-116.
• Les Peuples de la péninsule indochinoise, 1962.
• Decouverte numismatique au Siam interessant le royaume de Dvaravati, Paris, Librairie C. Klincksieck, 1964.
• L'avenir des etudes khmeres, Saigon, Imprimerie nouvelle d'Extreme-Orient, 1965.
• Angkor: an Introduction,translated and edited by Emily Floyd Gardiner, photographs by George Bliss, Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1966.
• The making of South East Asia, translated by H.M. Wright, London , Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1966.
• Catalogue des manuscrits en pali, laotien et siamois provenant de la Thailande, Copenhague, Bibliotheque Royale, 1966.
• The Indianized States of Southeast Asia, edited by Walter F. Vella, translated by Susan Brown Cowing, Canberra, Australian National University Press, 1968.
• —and Charles Archaimbault, Les trois mondes = Traibhumi Brah R'van Paris, Ecole francaise d'Extreme-Orient 1973.
• Sriwijaya: history, religion & language of an early Malay polity. Collected studies by George Coedes and Louis-Charles Damais, Kuala Lumpur, MBRAS, 1992.

Further reading

• Higham, Charles (2001). The Civilization of Angkor. Phoenix. ISBN 1-84212-584-2.
• National Library of Australia. Asia's French Connection : Georges Coedes and the Coedes Collection

See also

• Greater India SECTION Indianized kingdoms
• Robert Lingat