Bhavavarman I or Phraya Kalavarnadishraj (; zh, s=撥婆跋摩, p=Bópóbámó) was a king of

Chenla Chenla or Zhenla ( zh, t=真臘, s=, 真腊, p=Zhēnlà, w=Chen-la; , ; ) is the Chinese designation for the vassal of the kingdom of Funan preceding the Khmer Empire that existed from around the late 6th to the early 9th century in Indochina. ...

, which would later become the

Khmer Empire The Khmer Empire was an empire in Southeast Asia, centered on Hydraulic empire, hydraulic cities in what is now northern Cambodia. Known as Kambuja (; ) by its inhabitants, it grew out of the former civilization of Chenla and lasted from 802 t ...

Biography

Though the full dates of his reign are unknown, it is known that Bhavavarman reigned around the year 550. From his reading of the Ta Prohm Stèle, George Coedès understood a princess named Kambujarajalakshmi to have been Bhavavarman's queen, and that it was through her that he inherited the royal lineage. Coedès thought he was also very likely the grandson of the king of

Funan Funan (; , ; , Chữ Hán: ; ) was the name given by Chinese cartographers, geographers and writers to an ancient Khmer-Mon Indianized state—or, rather a loose network of states ''( Mandala)''—located in Mainland Southeast Asia covering ...

, a neighboring and more powerful Cambodian kingdom. However subsequent research by the epigraphist Claude Jacques revealed that Kambuja-raja-lakshmi was the queen of another king, Harshavarman I, who reigned in 910–923 AD, long after the Funan period and so she could not have passed on the royal lineage to Bhavavarman. According to Coedès, the main accomplishment of Bhavavarman's reign was the expansion of Kamboja into the

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth-longest river and the third-longest in Asia with an estimated length of and a drainage area of , discharging of wat ...

river valley, attacking both Funan. The reasons for these attacks are not clear, but most likely revolve around the accession of Rudravarman to the throne of Funan; Rudravarman killed the legitimate heir to the throne, and Bhavavarman may have seen himself as a rightful member of that lineage. It is not clear, however, if he wanted to claim the throne of Funan for himself, or to simply see Rudravarman unseated so that the next legitimate heir could take it. He was succeeded by his maternal brother, Chitrasena, who took the reign name Mahendravarman.Higham, C., 2014, Early Mainland Southeast Asia, Bangkok: River Books Co., Ltd., Chinese records of the time indicate that Chitrasena was responsible for the conquest of Funan. The Chinese records also indicate that, around this time, the king of Funan was replaced, and that the new king was a 'wicked king' who did not support

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

. Bhavavarman belonged to the traditional

Shaivite Shaivism (, , ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the supreme being. It is the second-largest Hindu sect after Vaishnavism, constituting about 385 million Hindus, found widely across South Asia (predominantly in ...

religion of Kamboja.

References

* George Coedès, "The Making of South-east Asia." London: Cox & Wyman Ltd, 1962. * George Coedès, "La Stèle de Ta-Prohm", ''Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient (BEFEO),'' Hanoi, VI, 1906, pp. 44–81. * Claude Jacques, “'Funan', 'Zhenla'. The reality concealed by these Chinese views of Indochina”, in R. B. Smith and W. Watson (eds.), ''Early South East Asia: Essays in Archaeology, History, and Historical Geography,'' New York, Oxford University Press, 1979, pp. 371–9, p. 373. * Ha Van Tan, "Óc Eo: Endogenous and Exogenous Elements", ''Viet Nam Social Sciences,'' 1-2 (7-8), 1986, pp. 91–101, pp. 91–92. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhavavarman 01 6th-century Cambodian monarchs Hindu monarchs 600 deaths Year of birth unknown Monarchs of Chenla