THE WORLD CIVILIZATIONS AND INDIA , PART-100

EMPEROR LE HOAN OF DAI CO VIET

VIETNAM ( SERIES -18 )

EMPEROR LE HOAN OF DAI CO VIET

LE HOAN or LE DAI HANH was the third ruler of the DAI CO VIET Kingdom from 981 AD to 1005 AD . Under the reign of Emperor DINH BO LINH , he was the GENERALISSIMO of the DAI CO VIET army. GENERALISSIMO was the military rank officer of the highest degree . He used to be superior to the Field Marshal having five-star ranks in the state and he used to command a ten thousand strong men army of DAI CO VIET . After the death Emperor DINH BO LINH , LE HOAN became Regent of DINH’S successor six-year-old DINH TOAN in late 979 AD . Following rebellions in the Kingdom , LE HOAN deposed the boy King DINH TOAN , married his mother , Queen DOUNG VAN NGA , and became ruler of DAI CO VIET in 1980 AD . Apart from Empress DOUNG VAN NGA , he had other wives like Empress PHUNG CAN CHI LY , Empress THUAN THANH MINH DAO , Empress TRINH QUAC and Empress PHAM . He had altogether 73 sons out of which 66 from concubines . He was born in 941 AD in AI Province . He rose to power as a General of HOA LU Warlord DINH BO LINH . After defeating all the eleven warlords in 968 AD , DINH BO LINH founded the DAI CO VIET Kingdom with LE HOAN as commander of the military of the Kingdom with title ‘General of Ten Circuits’ as he had fended off north invasion in 981 AD and led a seaborne invasion of the southern CHAMPA Kingdom in 982 AD .

COPPER COINS OF LE HOAN

EMPEROR LE HOAN AND HIS KINGSHIP

As we know that in late 979 AD , Emperor DINH BO LINH and his son DINH LIEN were slain by an official of the kingdom who was eunuch named as DO THICH while sleeping in the courtyard of the palace . Following the death of the Emperor DINH BO LINH and Prince DINH LIEN , his six year old son Prince DINH TOAN was enthroned as the King of DAI CO VIET . However , Queen DOUNG VAN NGA wanted LE HOAN to become the Ruler as it would better for the Kingdom in view of growing rebellions and threat from the northern SONG DYNASTY OF CHINA . So , DINH TOAN gave up the crown while LE HOAN took over the power with the reign name THIEN PHUC . He established five Queens as minor wives while Queen DOUNG VAN NGA remained as his first Lady . A part from that he appointed his family members including his brother and his sons to rule over other parts of the Kingdom . LE HOAN maintained the BUDDHIST patriarch KHOUNG VIET as the great preceptor in his court while a CHINESE named as HONGJIAN was appointed as the history expert of the court . Five years after a drought in 982 AD , he held a ROYAL PLOUGHING CEREMONY on two rice fields in 987 AD and put a pit of gold in each field . He also built the MAHAYANA NHAT temple in HOA LU in 995 AD . He left Inscriptions on it citing verses from the SURANGAMA SUTRA . The SURANGAMA SUTRA is a MAHAYANA BUDDHIST SUTRA that has been especially influential in CHAN BUDDHISM , a CHINESE school of MAHAYANA BUDDHISM became popular during TANG and SONG DYNASTIES .

EMPEROR LE HOAN

LE HOAN RELATIONS WITH SONG CHINA & CHAMPA

The rebellions in DIA VIET attracted attention of the CHINESE SONG RULER , TAIZONG . He ordered HOU RENBAO to move into DAI VIET territory . In early 981 AD , the CHINESE navy under LIU CHENG defeated LE HOAN’S military on the BACH DANG RIVER . It caused killing of 1,000 DAI VIET sailors and seized 200 junks . On the other hand , HOU RENBAO urged his troops to March forward , but they moved little late until LIU CHENG finally arrived . Now the SONG land forces and navy regrouped at DA LA village to move forward to HOA BO . LE HOAN pretended to surrender . But he tricked HOU RENBAO forces to come near . Then he killed HOU RENBAO and massacred his troops . This resulted into the forced retreat of the SONG army . Their Generals were punished with summary execution in KAIFENG for military failures . And SONG DYNASTY RULER sent three envoys respectively in 986 AD , 990 AD and 998 AD to DAI VIET to normalize the relations between the two countries .

PARMESVARAVARMAN-I , the king of CHAMPA , attacked DAI VIET in 979 AD in the name of restoring NGO NHAT KHANH . (NGO NHAT KHANH was a VIETNAMESE warlord during the period of 12 warlords . However , KHANH was defeated by DINH BO LINH in 968 AD .) But the King of CHAMPA was stopped by a typhoon . The next year Emperor LE HOAN sent an embassy to CHAMPA . But King PARMESVARAVARMAN-I of CHAMPA detained him which annoyed LE HOAN who led an army to storm the south and liked King PARMESVARAVARMAN-I in the battle and sacked INDRAPURA . His Prince JAYA INDRAVARMAN-IV sought refuse in the extreme south . But LUU KE TONG , a VIETNAMESE officer in the CHAM army , seized power in CHAMPA who resisted LE HOAN’S attempt to remove him from power .

In 1005 AD , Emperor LE HOAN died at the age of 64 . A civil war for succession between his sons erupted . His 20 years old fifth son LE LONG DINH seized the throne after murdering his older brother LE LONG VIET who only held the crown in three days and ruled the country for next four years .

ARBIND KUMAR BLOG

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

TO BE CONTINUED …………………

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