THE WORLD CIVILIZATIONS AND INDIA , PART-89

VIETNAM ( SERIES -7 )

KING PARAMESVARAVARMAN-I OF CHAMPA

King SAKTIVARMAN came to power in 904 AD after the death of his father JAYA SIMHAVARMAN . But he could not reign for long . In 905 AD , BHAVAVARMAN II became the King of CHAMPA who remained there till 917 . But much is not known about him . Then came INDRAVARMAN-III ( 918 AD to 960 AD ) and JAYA INDRAVARMAN-I ( 959 AD to 965 AD ) . But we don’t have sources of information about these two Kings . PARMESVARAVARMAN-I was the King of CHAMPA from 972 AD to 982 AD . He was the son of JAYA INDRAVARMAN-I . History of CHAMPA between 965 AD and 972 AD is also again unknown as there are no written or other sources available about this period . It appears that the Kingdom of CHAMPA was under some foreign influences , may be CHINESE . King PARMESVARAVARMAN-I showed a great punctuality in developing relations with SONG CHINA . The SONG DYNASTY OF CHINA was an Imperial Dynasty that began in 960 AD and lasted until 1279 AD . The Dynasty was founded by Emperor TAIZU of SONG after later ZHAO which conquered the rest of the ten Kingdoms ending the five Dynasties and ten Kingdoms as such . So , it became so powerful Emperor of his times . Realizing the threat from such a powerful Empire in the North , King PARMESVARAVARMAN-I sent no less than seven embassies to SONG CHINA between 972 AD to 979 AD . CHAMPA went into conflict with the new independent VIETNAMESE Kingdom of DAI VIET during his reign . In October 979 AD , King DINH BO LINH and the Prince DINH LIEN of DAI VIET were killed by a eunuch called DO THICH while they were sleeping in the courtyard of the palace . Following the murder of the King and the Prince , an unrest took place in DAI VIET . A former exiled royal dissent of DAI VIET living in CHAMPA known as NGO NHAT KHANH encouraged PARMESVARAVARMAN-I to invade DAI VIET . However , such invasion by King PARMESVARAVARMAN-I was halted by a typhoon and in the following year , the new ruler of DAI VIET , LE HOAN, fended off a CHINESE invasion in 981 AD , immediately sent an envoy to CHAMPA . But it was the fault of PARMESVARAVARMAN-I that without thinking it over , he arrested the envoy NGO TU CANH and TU MUC , which irritated King LE HOAN enormously . So in 982 AD , King LE HOAN of DAI VIET organized a retaliatory expedition to CHAMPA . And the VIETNAMESE army killed King PARMESVARAVARMAN-I and sacked the city of QUANG TRI in northern CHAMPA . They carried off women from the King’s entourage , gold , silver , and other precious objects . They even carried off a BUDDHIST MONK from INDIA who was at that time residing in CHAMPA .

KING LUU KE TONG OF CHAMPA

LUU KE TONG was the King of CHAMPA from 986 AD to 989 AD . After the VIETNAMESE invasion in 982 AD led by LE HOAN , entire northern region of CHAMPA was devastated and the new CHAM King INDRAVARMAN-IV took refuse in the southern part of the country . Taking advantages of the unrest , LUU KE TONG , a VIETNAMESE Military General from QUANG BINH , had seized power in INDRAPURA . In 983 AD , he succeeded in resisting the VIETNAMESE King LE HOAN’S attempt to depose him . In 986 , King INDRAVARMAN-IV died and LUU KE TONG proclaimed himself the King of CHAMPA . He immediately sent an embassy led by a Muslim called LY TRIEU TIEN to SONG CHINA to seek the CHINESE recognition . Many CHAMS and Muslims fled to SONG CHINA following the usurpation of CHAMPA by LUU KE TONG . In the same year , some hundred people from CHAMPA led by PU BO E arrived HAINAN . In the next two years more than 500 refugees from CHAMPA headed by LI NING BIAN and HU XUAN arrived in CANTON and demanded protection from the authorities of CHINA . But King LUU KE TONG died in 989 AD and the new CHAM King HARIVARMAN-II was crowned and founded the seventh Dynasty of CHAMPA . And CHAM soon renewed their raid against the Kingdom of DAI VIET in 995 AD and 997 AD .

KING HARIVARMAN-II OF CHAMPA

HARIVARMAN-II was the King of CHAMPA from 988 AD to 997 AD . His full name was SRI HARIVARMANDEVA . As we know that there was a complete unrest in the Kingdom of CHAMPA after CHAMPA-DAI VIET war of 982 AD . LUU KE TONG was a tyrant King who ruled CHAMPA from 986 AD to 989 AD . Under his rule many people fled CHAMPA to HIANAN Island and GUANGZHOU . In 988 AD , the CHAM nobility elected a prince called SRI HARIVARMANDEVA as the supposedly King of CHAMPA who , after the death of tyrant King TUU KE TONG , was crowned as HARIVARMAN-II in INDRAPURA . In December 990 AD , he sent a deplomatic delegation under LI ZHEN ( ALI ZAIN ) and PU HESAN (ABU HASSAN) to the court of SONG DYNASTY of CHINA informing about CHAMPA’S new ruler along with tribute gifts . He was a man of development . So , he rebuilt the temple of ISANABHADRESVARA at MY SON which previously might have been vandalized by the VIETNAMESE usurper . Moreover , he obtained the release of 360 CHAM war prisoners from SONG CHINA in 992 AD who were sold to slavery by the VIET after the CHAMPA-DAI VIET war of 982 AD . MASPERO said that in 995 AD and 997 AD , King LE HOAN of DAI VIET complained with the SONG CHINA’S court about CHAM raids in his territory of HOAN and AI while he was attacking CHAMPA in 990 AD and 997 AD respectively . From that period to almost 11th century AD , most of the textual evidence in CHAMPA was either destroyed or damaged due to constant wars and chronic depressions . It resulted in lack of Inscriptions which makes the history of CHAMPA of this period simply feded in obscurity . King HARIVARMAN-II died in 997 AD . He was succeeded by again a dubious ruler called as YANG PU KU VIJAYA CRI .