Water Chenla is subjected to attacks by pirates from Java, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula late in the eighth century.

By the beginning of the ninth century, it has apparently become a vassal of the Sailendra dynasty of Java.

The last of the Water Chenla kings allegedly is killed around 790 by a Javanese monarch whom he had offended.

The ultimate victor in the strife that follows is the ruler of a small Khmer state located north of the Mekong Delta.

His assumption of the throne as Jayavarman II (ca. 802-50) marks the liberation of the Khmer people from Javanese suzerainty and the beginning of a unified Khmer nation.