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
David Porter Chandler (born 1933) is an American historian and academic who is regarded as one of the foremost western scholars of Cambodia's modern history.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 Thailand t ...
'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 ...
Yasovarman I
Yasovarman I ( km, ព្រះបាទយសោវរ្ម័នទី១) was an Angkorian king who reigned in 889–910 CE. He was called " Leper King".
Early years
Yasovarman was a son of King Indravarman I and his wife Indradevi.
Yaaso ...
and his Queen, who was a sister of
Jayavarman IV Jeyavarman IV ( km, ជ័យវរ្ម័នទី៤) was an Angkorian king who ruled from 928 to 941 CE. Many early historians thought that he was a usurper. However, recent evidence shows that he had a legitimate claim to the throne. During hi ...
.
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, consec ...
and his wife Indradevi.
Harshavarman had a younger brother, Ishanavarman II.
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 was ...
.
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 relat ...
,
Jayavarman IV Jeyavarman IV ( km, ជ័យវរ្ម័នទី៤) was an Angkorian king who ruled from 928 to 941 CE. Many early historians thought that he was a usurper. However, recent evidence shows that he had a legitimate claim to the throne. During hi ...
, 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 Buddhism, N ...
. 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 churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
-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