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 The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and la ...

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 Liu Fang 1974) is a Chinese–Canadian musician who is one of the most prominent ''pipa'' players in the world. Described in the media as the "empress of pipa" (''L'actualité''), "divine mediator" (World), "the greatest ambassadress of ...

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 humans for combat. The war elephant's main use was to charge the enemy, break their ranks and instill terror and fear. Elephantry is a term for specific military units using elepha ...

. 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. 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 b ...

, 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 King ...

's ruler in 623.

Legacy

Around 600 AD, Sambhuvarman authorized the construction of the

Mỹ Sơn Mỹ Sơn () is a cluster of abandoned and partially ruined Hindu temples in central Vietnam, constructed between the 4th and the 14th century by the Kings of Champa, an Indianized kingdom of the Cham people. The temples are dedicated to the wor ...

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

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jaya Sambhuvarman Cham rulers 7th-century monarchs in Asia 629 deaths 6th-century Vietnamese people 7th-century Vietnamese people