Indravarman I ( km, ឥន្រ្ទវរ្ម័នទី១) was a ruler of
Khmer Empire who reigned from
Hariharalaya
Hariharalaya ( km, ហរិហរាល័យ, Hariharalay) was an ancient city and capital of the Khmer empire located near Siem Reap, Cambodia in an area now called Roluos ( Khmer: រលួស). Today, all that remains of the city are the ...
between 877/78 and 889/890 CE.
Indravarman's ancestors
According to the inscriptions of the
Práḥ Kô temple, consecrated on Monday, 25 January 880 AD (Foundation stele K. 713 a) three pairs of temple towers for three deceased kings and their queens were built by him as a kind of "memorial temple", as can be seen by the inscriptions on the door frames of the towers: The central towers were dedicated to
Jayavarman II
Jayavarman II ( km, ជ័យវរ្ម័នទី២; c. 770 – 850) (reigned c. 802–850) was a Khmer prince who founded and became the ruler of the Khmer Empire (Cambodia) after unifying the Khmer civilization. The Khmer Empire was the ...
under his posthumous name ''Parameśvara'' and his queen ''
Dharaṇīndradevī'' (K. 320a), the northern ones for ''Rudravarman'' (consecrated as ''Rudreśvara'') and ''Rajendradevī'' (K. 318a), his mother's parents, and the southern towers for ''Pṛthivīndravarman'' (desecrated as ''Pṛthivīndreśvara'') and ''Pṛthivīndradevī'' (K. 315 a) and K. 713 b).
Indravarman I's wife, Indradevi, was a descendant of the royal families of
Sambhupura
Isanapura (also known as Sambhupura, or Sambor of St'ung Sen) was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Chenla. It is located in what is now Kampong Thom Province in Cambodia. The city was founded in about 618 at Leek Sambor Kuk by King Isanava ...
,
Vyadhapura
Vyadhapura ( km, វ្យាធបុរៈ Sanskrit: व्याधपूर ''Vyādhapūra'') was an ancient city of the Funan civilization, likely in what is now Ba Phnum District in the province of Prey Veng, Cambodia. It was the capital ...
, and Aninditapura (
Funan
Funan (; km, ហ៊្វូណន, ; vi, Phù Nam, Chữ Hán: ) was the name given by Chinese cartographers, geographers and writers to an ancient Indianized state—or, rather a loose network of states ''(Mandala)''—located in mainla ...
).
[
]
Pṛthivīndravarman and Rudravarman
Actually the classical succession of kings in the 9th century was disputed by some epigraphists such as Kamaleswar Bhattacharya and Karl-Heinz Golzio. Since the poor activity and records of Jayavarman III, and the presence of the dedicated towers of Preah Ko, they had interpreted some Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
inscriptions at Roluos
Roluos, also Phumi Roluos Chas, is a small town and khum (commune) of Svay Chek District in Banteay Meanchey Province in north-western Cambodia. It is located on road 56, 24km north of Sisophon.
Villages
* Baek Chan Thmei
* Khvav Kaeut
* Stu ...
as proof of existence of two kings between him and Indravarman: Rudravarman and Pṛthivīndravarman.
According to the Lolei inscription K. 324 of Indravarman's successor Yaśovarman I, dated 8 July 893 AD, Rudravarman was the younger brother of the mother of 'Dharaṇīndradevī, the queen consort of Jayavarman II and mother of Jayavarman III
Very little is known about Jayavarman II's son and successor, Jayavarman III ( km, ជ័យវរ្ម័នទី៣), or Vishnuloka, the second ruler of Angkor.
The future Khmer king, Yasovarman I
Yasovarman I ( km, ព្រះបាទយ ...
(whom Indravarman mentioned under his posthumous name ''Viṣṇuloka'' in his Bakong
Bakong ( km, បាគង ) is the first Khmer temple mountain of sandstone constructed by rulers of the Khmer Empire at Angkor near modern Siem Reap in Cambodia. In the final decades of the 9th century AD, it served as the official state tem ...
inscription K. 826 stanza XXX, dated 881/82 AD.
Although Michael Vickery, has pointed out that they are not mentioned in later times and that these "-varman" ancestors of Indravarman may easily be explained as posthumous upgrading of the king's parents, which perhaps already occurred within their lifetimes, the following facts should be taken into account: 1) The inscriptions of the 9th century gave an account of events, i.e. genealogies and relative chronologies, referring to that century itself; 2) One should have great doubts concerning the reliability of later inscriptions that record wrong reign dates and stories about family connections never heard of before, which was pointed out especially by Vickery; 3) later inscriptions omitted very often not only these two kings, but also other important kings (Jayavarman IV mentioned only his three predecessors; Rājendravarman II, the founder of a new dynasty, has omitted in his Bàksĕi Čaṃkrŏṅ inscription K. 286, dated 23 February 948, all his predecessors with the exception of Jayavarman II and Jayavarman III); 4) In the 9th century the "-varman"-title was exclusively reserved for kings (by the way, Rudravarman was no father of a king); 5) It is surprising that later inscriptions were considered more trustworthy than contemporary ones, thus twisting things instead of following a historio-critical method.
Indravarman's monuments and public buildings
While Jayavarman II was credited for the founding of the Khmer Empire ca. 800 AD, Indravarman I was credited for an extensive building program. He set the foundations for the future Angkorian kings to follow. The king's first act was to perform a public service for his subjects by building an irrigation network for the rice fields. The goal was usually achieved by constructing a large reservoir to retain water during the monsoon season and then release it during the dry season through a network of canals and channels. And in Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
mythology the reservoir also represents an ocean and the temple-mountain represents Mount Meru, the home of the gods.[ Higham, 2001, pp. 59–63] The king and his Brahman advisors performed many rituals throughout the year to reinforce this belief; for example, the ritual of rain-making performed before the rice planting season. Immediately, after Indravarman I acceded, he declared in his Práḥ Kô inscription: "In five days from today I shall begin digging, etc."[ Bhattacharya, 2009, p. 31] Dig he did with a reservoir of an immense size: the Indratāṭaka was the biggest reservoir ever built before his time being long by wide. However, later rulers out-built him and made his reservoir look small. Now dry, it could have held about 7.5 million cubic metres of water during the monsoon season.
The king's second act was - as mentioned above - to build shrines and dedicate them to his god, ancestors, and parents. At his capital city Hariharālaya, Roluos at present, Indravarman I built Práḥ Kô (Preah Ko), which he dedicated to his maternal father and grandfather, and the dynasty founder Jayavarman II
Jayavarman II ( km, ជ័យវរ្ម័នទី២; c. 770 – 850) (reigned c. 802–850) was a Khmer prince who founded and became the ruler of the Khmer Empire (Cambodia) after unifying the Khmer civilization. The Khmer Empire was the ...
. His palace was located at Prei Monti.[Higham, C., 2014, Early Mainland Southeast Asia, Bangkok: River Books Co., Ltd., ]
The king's third act was to build a temple-mountain (or complete a construction begun by Jayavarman III) which he dedicated to a liṅga dedicated to his patron Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
deity Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...
called after himself. Cœdès identified thirteen Angkorian kings after Indravarman built such shrines for these dual purposes (state and memorial shrine). The shrines were built with stepped pyramids surrounded by lakes. In the centre of the capital of Hariharālaya, Indravarman I built Bakong surrounded by double-walled moats. The Bakong was his state shrine, therefore, it also housed the official Śiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...
s liṅga. Although his shrines are bigger than his predecessors, they are modest compared to the later shrines. It was also the first time in Khmer architecture
Khmer architecture ( km, ស្ថាបត្យកម្មខ្មែរ), also known as Angkorian architecture ( km, ស្ថាបត្យកម្មសម័យអង្គរ), is the architecture produced by the Khmers during the A ...
that nāga
The Nagas (IAST: ''nāga''; Devanāgarī: नाग) are a divine, or semi-divine, race of half-human, half-serpent beings that reside in the netherworld (Patala), and can occasionally take human or part-human form, or are so depicted in art. ...
s were employed as guardians for the bridge between the human world and the temple, house of gods.
Succession
Indravarman I died in 889, receiving the posthumous name Isvaraloka, and was succeeded by his son Yaśovarman I.[
]
Notes
References
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9th-century Cambodian monarchs
9th-century Hindus
Hindu monarchs
Khmer Empire
Cambodian Hindus
9th-century deaths
Year of birth unknown