Harshavarman I ( km, ហស៌វរ្ម័នទី១; or Rudraloka, died in 923) was an

Angkor Angkor ( km, អង្គរ , 'Capital city'), also known as Yasodharapura ( km, យសោធរបុរៈ; sa, यशोधरपुर),Headly, Robert K.; Chhor, Kylin; Lim, Lam Kheng; Kheang, Lim Hak; Chun, Chen. 1977. ''Cambodian-Engl ...

ian king who reigned in 910–923 CE. He is mentioned by David P. Chandler, who is one of the foremost western scholars of

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

's modern

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

."Book Review: Voices from S-21"
. ''The American Historical Review'' (October 2002).

Family

Harshavarman was a son of King Yasovarman I and his Queen, who was a sister of Jayavarman IV. Grandparents of Harshavarman were King

Indravarman I Indravarman I ( km, ឥន្រ្ទវរ្ម័នទី១) was a ruler of Khmer Empire who reigned from Hariharalaya between 877/78 and 889/890 CE. Indravarman's ancestors According to the inscriptions of the Práḥ Kô temple, conse ...

and his wife Indradevi. Harshavarman had a younger brother,

Ishanavarman II Ishanavarman II ( km, ឦសានវរ្ម័នទី២) was an Angkorian king who is believed to have ruled from 923 to 928. His empire may have been confined to Angkor and the area around Battambang to the west. Family Ishanavarman was ...

. His queen was Kambujarajalakshmi. They were the maternal grandparents of

Jayavarman VII Jayavarman VII, posthumous name of Mahaparamasaugata ( km, ជ័យវរ្ម័នទី៧, c. 1122–1218), was king of the Khmer Empire. He was the son of King Dharanindravarman II (r. 1150–1160) and Queen Sri Jayarajacudamani. He w ...

. His grandson was Yajnavaraha. He was a knowledgeable teacher.

Biography

Following his death, Yasovarman was succeeded by Harshavarman. The reigns of Harshavarman and his younger brother marked a period of instability for the Khmer Empire. Both brothers were involved in a power struggle with their maternal

uncle An uncle is usually defined as a male relative who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent. Uncles who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. The female counterpart of an uncle is an aunt, and the reciprocal re ...

, Jayavarman IV, a conflict that lasted for Harshavarman’s entire

reign A reign is the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office of monarch of a nation (e.g., Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Andorra), of a people (e.g., the Franks, the Zulus) or of a spiritual community (e.g., Catholicism, Tibetan Budd ...

. Jayavarman was eventually driven out of Angkor to set up his own capital about 100 km away during the reign of Ishanavarman. Nothing else is known about Harshavarman other than that he constructed the small

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called church (building), churches), Hindui ...

-mountain of

Baksei Chamkrong Baksei Chamkrong (also spelled Baksey Chamkrong, km, បក្សីចាំក្រុង) is a legendary monarch of Cambodia, whose life and rule are known from the ''Cambodian Royal Chronicles''. Despite a lack of historicity, the narra ...

at the foot of

Phnom Bakheng Phnom Bakheng ( km, ភ្នំបាខែង ) is a Hindu and Buddhist temple in the form of a temple mountain in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia. Dedicated to Shiva, it was built at the end of the 9th century, during the reign of King Yasova ...

which he dedicated to his parents,Higham, C., 2014, Early Mainland Southeast Asia, Bangkok: River Books Co., Ltd., He died in 923 and was succeeded by Ishanavarman.''The Khmers'', Ian Mabbet and David P. Chandler, Silkworm Books, 1995, page 262.

Notes

References

*Briggs, Lawrence Palmer. ''The Ancient Khmer Empire''. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 1951. {{DEFAULTSORT:Harshavarman 01 10th-century Cambodian monarchs Cambodian Buddhist monarchs Khmer Empire Cambodian Theravada Buddhists 923 deaths Year of birth unknown