Chenla Kingdom

Chenla is the Chinese designation for Cambodia after the fall of Funan.

That name is still used in the 13th century by the Chinese envoy Zhou Daguan, author of The Manners and Customs of Cambodia.

Some modern scholars use the name exclusively for Khmer states of the period from the late 6th to the early 9th centuries.

The Chenla kingdom is influenced by the cultures of the south Indian Pallava dynasty and Chalukya dynasty.

The beginnings of the so-called "Dang­­rek Chieftains" small chiefdoms north and south of the Dangrek Mountains are obscure.

The first known princes are mentioned in some early inscriptions.

The Sanskrit inscription of Vãl Kantél, Stung Treng province names a king Vīravarman as father of a princess whose name was not mentioned, married to a Brahmin called Somaśarman and sister of a certain Bhavavarman.

According to the inscription from Čăn Năk’ôn in Basăk/Laos (K. 363) Vīravarman was also father of prince Citrasena who was the younger brother of Bhavavarman.

Obviously both princes had the same mother, but different fathers, which was corroborated by the Si Tep inscription (in present-day Thailand) giving the information that Bhavavarman was the son of a Prathivīndravarman and grandson of a Cakravartin whereas the inscription from Pak Mun in Ubon/Thailand informs us that the name of the father of Vīravarman was called Sārvabhauma.

All these inscriptions refer to a large territory ruled by these kings.

It is recorded in the inscription from Robaṅ Romãs at Īśānapura (the archaeological site of Sambor Prei Kuk) that a certain Narasiṃhagupta, who was vassal (sam­ān­tanṛpa) of the successive kings Bhavavarman, Mahendravarman (the ruling name of Citrasena) and Īśānavarman erected on 13 April 598 during the reign of Bhavavarman a figure of Kalpavāsudeva (Vishnu).

This coincides with the oldest Chinese text that mentions Chenla, the Suí shū (Annals of the Suí Dynasty), compiled by Wèi Zhēng (580-643) in CE 636, which gives the information that at the beginning of the 7th century Chenla was ruled by Citrasena and Īśānavarman.

The capital of the latter was Īśānapura, while his predecessor Bhavavarman I still resided at Bhavapura, a place which probably is located in the vicinity of the modern town of Thala Barivat (13°33’ N, 105°57’ E).

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