Vikrāntavarman I or Prakāśadharma (?–686 AD), was a king 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 ...

from the Gangaraja (Simhapura) dynasty, modern-day Central Vietnam, reigning from 653 to 686. His original name was Prakāśadharma but he took the appellation Vikrāntavarman when he was crowned in 653. He was the son of Prince Jagaddharma, the grandson of

Kandarpadharma Kandarpadharma was the King of the Simhapura dynasty of Champa. He ruled from 629 to an unknown date, when he was succeeded by his son, King Prabhasadharma.Isanavarman I Īśānavarman ( km, ឦសានវរ្ម័នទី១, , Iśânasena) or Yīshēnàxiāndài () was a king of the kingdom of Chenla in 7th century, which would later become the Khmer Empire. He was the son of, and successor to Mahendrav ...

Zhenla Chenla or Zhenla (; km, ចេនឡា, ; vi, Chân Lạp) is the Chinese designation for the successor polity of the kingdom of Funan preceding the Khmer Empire that existed from around the late sixth to the early ninth century in Indoc ...

. He sent embassies to the court of

Emperor Gaozong of Tang Emperor Gaozong of Tang (21 July 628 – 27 December 683), personal name Li Zhi, was the third emperor of the Tang dynasty in China, ruling from 649 to 683; after January 665, he handed power over the empire to his second wife Empress Wu (the ...

in 653, 654, 669, and 670, which he was known as Zhu Ghedi (諸葛地) and Bojiashebamo (鉢伽舍跋摩, Late Middle Chinese: ''pɑt-kaɨ/kɛ:-ɕia’/ɕiaʰ-bɑt-mɑ''), as recorded in the '' New Book of Tang.'' He was known for expanding the Champa kingdom to the south, uniting the realm under one dynasty.

Expansion of Champa

Prakāśadharma conducted a series of military campaigns against other chiefdoms in the south. By 658 AD it is apparent that Champa's territory had already established to near modern-day Ninh Hòa city in Khánh Hòa. Notes that Champa's territorial extent was neither fixed or only one dynasty ruling entire the realm.

Administration

Prakāśadharma introduced and implemented the territorial division unit of ''viṣayas'' (district) for the first time. There were at least two known viṣayas: Caum and Midit. It was highly likely that Prakāśadharma had spent some of his courtier and vacational times in the city of Viṣṇupura (at present day Cổ Thành,

Quảng Trị Quảng Trị () is a district-level town in Quảng Trị Province in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam. It is second of two municipalities in the province after the provincial capital Đông Hà. History The Sino-Vietnamese name Qu� ...

, east of the Thạch Hãn River).

Vaishnavism Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...

in Champa can only be found in Quang Tri.

Envoys to Tang Empire

The '' New Book of Tang'' recorded a king of Lam Ap named ''Zhu Ghede'' ( Chinese: 諸葛地, pinyin: ''Zhū Gěde''), while in the '' Tang Huiyao,'' Zhu Ghede's actual name was transcribed as ''Bojiashebamo'' ( Chinese: 鉢伽舍跋摩; Late Middle Chinese: ''*pɑt-kaɨ/kɛ:-ɕia’/ɕiaʰ-bɑt-mɑ'') reigning from 653 to 687, which is often attributed to the profile of Prakāśadharma. Prakāśadharma offered the Tang court a elephant on May 9, 653. He sent four more times envoys to the Tang court in May 654, February 657, August 669, and 670. Palaeographists however keep a skeptic that a straightforward identification of the data of medieval Chinese sources about the kingdom of Lam Ap/Linyi with epigraphic evidence of the Thu Bon River Valley is hardly plausible.

Constructing temples

During his reign Vikrantavarman built numerous temples at Mỹ Sơn, dedicating particularly to Śiva. Those temples he desired the worships of

Kandarpadharma Kandarpadharma was the King of the Simhapura dynasty of Champa. He ruled from 629 to an unknown date, when he was succeeded by his son, King Prabhasadharma.Mỹ Sơn, dedicating for Amareśa; and a golden portrait of Śiva. He named for his beloved deity Kandarpapureśvara after his great-grandfather and king Kandarpadharma. Kandarpadharma was the father of Prakāśadharma's paternal grandmother. Jagaddharma was likely an alternative name for hitherto Bhadreśvaravarman (r. 650?-?). When Prabhasadharma's male descendants were put to death by a minister, Jagaddharma, one of his nephew who had escaped, traveling to the Khmer city Bhavapura ( Sambor Prei Kuk) and then got married with Queen Śarvānī, daughter of

king

Isanavarman Isanavarman may refer to: *Isanavarman I, king of Chenla *Ishanavarman, also spelled Iśanavarman *Ishanavarman II Ishanavarman II ( km, ឦសានវរ្ម័នទី២) was an Angkorian king who is believed to have ruled from 923 to 928. ...

, and gave birth to Prakāśadharma. Many pedestals, or kosas, were erected for his devotions to Śiva and Vishnu. Prakāśadharma's words proved himself a sophisticated, well-educated monarch in cosmopolitan Sanskrit learning and Indian philosophy.

Succession

Initially, scholars thought that there was a single Vikrantavarman ruled over Champa from 658 to 741, a impossible straight 83-years-reign. The existence of two kings named Vikrantavarman were figured out shortly after. Chinese documents reported that Prakāśadharma (Vikrantavarman I) had passed away in 686 and was succeeded by a son and namesake, Vikrantavarman II (r. ?-741, Jianduodamo). The second problem is as reported by Chinese annals, Prakāśadharma traditionally is believed to be succeeded by Vikrantavarman II. However, recent research shows indications that there is a king Naravāhanavarman ruled briefly between Prakāśadharma and Vikrantavarman II.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vikrantavarman I Cham rulers