THE WORLD CIVILIZATIONS AND INDIA , PART-87

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VIETNAM ( SERIES -5 )

KING PRITHIVINDRAVARMAN OF CHAMPA

PRITHIVINDRAVARMAN was the King of CHAMPA from 758 AD to 770 AD . His predecessor was LUTUOLUO about whom very little is known to us . The SIMHAPURA Dynasty established by King GANGARAJA along the THU BON River Valley abruptly came to an end around 740 AD about which much are unknown to the historians . Now the centre of CHAM had shifted to the south . The last LYNYI tribute mission to the court of CHINESE EMPEROR TANG was sent by King LUTUOLUO in 749 AD . After that , as per the CHINESE annals called the OLD BOOK OF TANG states that LYNYI had changed its named as HUANWANG during the ZHIDE reign era ( 756 to 58 AD ) . To HUANGHUA SIDAJI written by a TANG regime Prime Minister named as JIA DAN in 800 AD ( But Book is now lost ) , references of which are found in many historical sources , states that HUANWANG was a Kingdom located around present-day QUANG BINH and QUANG TRI areas of VIETNAM . The Kingdom of CHAMPA , by that time , had fragment into several independent small Kingdoms . Anyway , PRITHIVINDRAVARMAN was a very religious King . He again initiated the worship of legendary CHAM Goddess PO NAGAR , symbolized in HINDUISM as BHAGAVATI . Female deities in HINDUISM are called BHAGAVATI . Now the temple of PO NAGAR in her INDIANISED form was built in KAUTHARA ( NHA TRANG ) . His regime saw an amazing height of history in terms of prosperity . Art and literature as symbol of culture developed during the period . CHAM port cities dominated the maritime trade routes through the south CHINA sea . Trade with INDIA , the MIDDLE EAST and South-East ASIAN countries now was at peak . A large quantities of ISLAMIC pottery and ARAB DINARS , dating from 7th to 10th century AD , have been recovered from CHAM port cities of AMARAVATI , SIMHAPURA and PANDURANGA . Thus , the life of the people of CHAMPA could better be described as extremely lavish and peaceful . He was succeeded by his sister’s son SATYAVARMAN in 770 AD . He ruled from 770 AD to 787 AD . But during his reign in 774 AD , the JAVANESE raiders from the south invaded CHAMPA , plundered its cities , stole the golden statue of BHAGAVATI and burned down the PO NAGAR temple as such . It is said that King PRITHIVINDRAVARMAN was killed by invaders amidst chaos . And he was given title of RUDRALOKA posthumously .

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KING JAYA SATYAVARMAN OF CHAMPA

JAYA SATYAVARMAN ( 770 AD TO 787 AD ) was the second King of the Fifth Dynasty of CHAMPA . He was the sister’s son of King PRITHIVINDRAVARMAN . He was a staunch supporter of HINDUISM and BUDDHISM . During his reign JAVANESE raiders assaulted CHAMPA in 774 AD and 787 AD . They plundered PO NAGAR temple , vandalized and looted the temple treasures and burned the statue of SHIVA . But King SATYAVARMAN quickly repulsed the invaders and rebuilt the temple . A stele erected on 16th May 783 AD commemorates his reconstruction of the LINGA of SHIVA in PHUROC THIEN (NINH THUAN PROVINCE). He died in 787 AD and was succeeded by his brother INDRAVARMAN -I , who already had his own domain in NINH THUAN . He ruled CHAMPA from 787 AD to 801 AD . Knowing about SATYAVARMAN’S death , the JAVANESE launched the second incursion along southern CHAMPA . The JAVANESE sacked the capital of VIRAPURA . They destroyed temples of HOA LAI to BHADRADIPATISVARA , west of VIRAPURA . They plundered temples , towns , taking many spoils and women back to JAVA . King INDRAVARMAN finally driven out the JAVANESE from PANDURANGA in 799 AD . He also restored the temple . Moreover , in 793 AD , he sent an embassy to CHINA . And he was succeeded by his brother-in-law HARIVARMAN -I after his death in 801 AD .

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KING HARIVARMAN-I OF CHAMPA

HARIVARMAN-I was the King of CHAMPA from 802 AD to 817 AD . He was the brother-in-law of King INDRAVARMAN-I . Unlike his predecessor , HARIVARMAN-I was a war-like hawking King . However , with the help of his military commanders like SENAPATI PANROE and SENAPATI PAMR , he constructed the temple of PO NAGAR in NHA TRANG . They also built three KALAN at HOA LAI near PHAN RANG , the former PANDURANGA . These three towers were built entirely of red bricks . Thus , CHAM realistic architecture school is called as HOA LAI STYLE . And the remains of PO DAM , MY SON A-I , A-2 and A-3 also belong to this school of architecture . Moreover , the most important development during his regime was that the first CHAM Inscriptions were engraved gradually replacing SANSKRIT language as such . As he was a war-like hawking King , he ordered SENAPATI PAMR to invade CAMBODIA and he was victorious there . In 803 AD , northern CHAMPA principality of HUANWANG , being incited by the King of Kings , made a war provocation against ANNAN province which was under TANG Empire . HUANWANG seized two counties of ANNAN . In 809 AD , the CHINESE governor of ANNAN , ZHANG ZHOU , counterattacked HUANWANG and recovered lost counties . The army of HUANWANG was badly defeated . More than 30,000 were made prisoners of war. CHAM King’s son and 59 of his officials were taken . Despite that HARIVARMAN-I declared his victory over the CHINESE . He said , ‘ his strong arm was the sun that expelled the darkness which was the CINA ‘. HARIVARMAN-I made his son VIKRANTAVARMAN-III in charge governing PANDURANGA independently in 813 AD . PANDURANGA now became a feudatory of MANDALA CHAMPA . And when HARIVARMAN-I died in 817 AD , VIKRANTAVARMAN-III ascended to the throne of CHAMPA as such .

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NOTE : THE SOURCES OF THE BLOG ARE TEXT BOOKS AND OTHER WRITTEN MATERIALS ON THE SUBJECT .

TO BE CONTINUED ………………

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