Jaya Sambhuvarman of
Champa
Champa ( Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ; km, ចាម្ប៉ា; vi, Chiêm Thành or ) were a collection of independent Cham polities that extended across the coast of what is contemporary central and southern Vietnam from approximately the 2nd ...
(
Chinese: 商菩跋摩 / Shang-bèi-bá-mā), personal name Fan Fanzhi (
Chinese: 范梵志), was the king of
Lâm Ấp from 572 to 629 AD.
Relation with Sui China
In 595 AD, Sambhuvarman sent tribute to the
Sui dynasty of China. Due to a myth that Champa was an immensely rich area, Sui officials began to take a special interest in it; in 605
Yang Chien ordered general
Liu Fang to invade Lâm Ấp. Sambhuvarman's army faced off against the Chinese forces with many
war elephants
A war elephant was an elephant that was trained and guided by human
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and c ...
. At first they had some success, but Liu Fang's troops dug ditches and covered them with twigs. The elephants were alarmed by the ditches and retreated, causing disorder in Sambhuvarman's army. It was completely routed, with immense slaughter. Liu Fang pursued the Cham remains as far as the bronze column of
Ma Yuan Ma Yuan may refer to:
* Ma Yuan (Han dynasty) (馬援; 14 BC – 49 AD), general of the Han dynasty
* Ma Yuan (painter) (馬遠; 1160–1225), painter of the Song dynasty
* Ma Yuan (judge) (馬原), a former Vice President of the Supreme People's ...
.
The capital,
Trà Kiệu
Trà Kiệu is a village in Duy Sơn commune, Duy Xuyên district, Quảng Nam province, Vietnam.
Geography
Trà Kiệu is located in the Thu Bồn river valley inland from Hội An, which has since moved putting the site on the southern bank ...
, was abandoned. Within eight days, the Chinese forces arrived and pillaged the city. Their plunder included over one thousand Buddhist books as well as the gold tablets commemorating the reigns of the previous eighteen kings. The Sui immediately set up an administration in Lâm Ấp and divided the country into 3 counties: Tỷ Ảnh, Hải Âm and Tượng Lâm. Liu Fang cut a stone inscription to commemorate his victory and then started for China, but on the way the army was hit by an outbreak of disease which killed large numbers of the officers and men, including Liu Fang.
The Sui effort to administer parts of Champa directly was short-lived. Sambhuvarman reasserted his power and sent an embassy to the Sui to "acknowledge his fault." The Cham quickly regained independence during the troubles accompanying the
collapse of the Sui empire, and sent a gift to the new
Tang Empire
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...
's ruler in 623.
Legacy

Around 600 AD, Sambhuvarman authorized the construction of the
Mỹ Sơn Bhadresvara temple. He reinstalled the god under the name Sambhu-Bhadresvara, and erected a stele to document the event. The stele affirmed that Sambhu-Bhadresvara was the creator of the world and the destroyer of sin, and expressed the wish that he "cause happiness in the kingdom of Champa." The stele also applauded the king himself, claiming that he was "like a terrestrial sun illuminating the night" and that his glory rose "like the moon on an autumn evening."
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaya Sambhuvarman
Cham rulers
7th-century monarchs in Asia
629 deaths
6th-century Vietnamese people
7th-century Vietnamese people