Source: here.
A Sanskrit inscription from the Phnom Prah Vihar hillock in Cambodia, copied by the French researcher Coedes (IC. 3), provides a further illustration of the point discussed our earlier note on the link between nyAya-vaisheShika and the pAshupata-s. It also underscores the point of how the pAshupata-s appear to have dispersed these philosophical systems widely over Asia. The inscription is associated with king bhava-varman of Kambhoja.
A large number of inscriptions appear to be of the king bhava-varman-I who founded a new Kambhoja kingdom by annexing Funan and Vietnam to his Cambodian base. This would place it around 590 CE when he was at his peak. There was a second bhava-varman, his successor 3rd in line (in the earlier half of 600s of CE). But the lack of mention of bhava-varman-II’s father ishAna-varman makes it likely that the king of this inscription was bhava-varman-I the founder of the dynasty. The inscription is in the AryA Chandas and refers to a pAshupata AchArya vidyApuShpa. The extant of the surviving portion of the inscription is 9 verses and is broken towards the end. I just provide a few excerpts.
jayati indu ravi vyoma vAyvAtm[a/A]-kSmA jalaanalaiH |
tanoti tanubhish- shambhur-yoShTAbhir-akhila~n-jagat || (1)
A praise of shambhu in his universal manifestation.
rAjA shrI-bhava-varmeti bhavaty adhika-shAsanaH |
soma-vaMshayo.apy ari-dhvAnta pradhvaMsana divAkaraH || (3)
A praise of the king bhava-varman of the lunar race.
tasya pAshupatAchAryaH vidyApuShpAhvayaH kaviH |
shabda-vaisheShika-nyAya-tattvArtha-kR^ita-nishchayaH || (4)
This verse describes the pAshupatAchArya vidyApuShpa who is mentioned as a scholar of shabda (=grammar) and vaisheShika and nyAya.
Then the inscription goes on to describe the dream manifestation of rudra to the Acharya and his endowment to the shiva shrine of cows, land, gold and attendants
Possible ruins from vidyApuShpa’s shrine