Princess Huyền Trân (,

Chữ Nôm Chữ Nôm (, ) is a logographic writing system formerly used to write the Vietnamese language. It uses Chinese characters to represent Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and some native Vietnamese words, with other words represented by new characters ...

: 玄珍

公 Gong was a title of nobility, title of ancient China, ancient and imperial China, imperial Chinese nobility roughly equivalent to and usually translated as duke (title), duke. It was also historically used within Chinese fiefs as a respectful tit ...

主) (1289-1340) was a princess of the

Trần Dynasty The Trần dynasty (Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: Nhà Trần, chữ Nôm: 茹陳; Vietnamese language, Vietnamese: triều Trần, chữ Hán: ikt:朝ikt:陳, 朝wikt:陳, 陳), officially Đại Việt (Chữ Hán: 大越), was a List ...

Đại Việt Đại Việt (, ; literally Great Việt), was a Vietnamese monarchy in eastern Mainland Southeast Asia from the 10th century AD to the early 19th century, centered around the region of present-day Hanoi. Its early name, Đại Cồ Việt,(ch ...

, who later married to King Jaya Simhavarman III of

Champa Champa (Cham language, Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ, چمڤا; ; 占城 or 占婆) was a collection of independent Chams, Cham Polity, polities that extended across the coast of what is present-day Central Vietnam, central and southern Vietnam from ...

and titled queen consort Parameshvari of Champa from 1306 to 1307.

Biography

She was the daughter of Emperor

Trần Nhân Tông Trần Nhân Tông (7 December 1258–16 December 1308), Vietnamese name, personal name Trần Khâm, temple name Nhân Tông, was the third emperor of the Trần dynasty, reigning over Đại Việt from 1278 to 1293. After ceding the thron ...

and the younger sister of Emperor Trần Anh Tông. There are few details in the historical record about Huyền Trân's life. In 1293, Trần Nhân Tông abdicated in favor of his son, Trần Anh Tông, in order to become a monk in a pagoda on Mount Yên Tử in what is now Quảng Ninh Province. In 1301, her father, Emperor Trần Nhân Tông, visited the Kingdom of Champa and was given a lavish royal welcome by King Jaya Simhavarman III (Vietnamese: ''Chế Mân'', 制旻). The visit lasted nine months. When Trần Nhân Tông left Champa for

(the name of Vietnam at the time), he promised to give his daughter in marriage, even though the Cham king was already married to a Javanese woman named Tapasi. Jaya Simhavarman III thereafter sent many envoys to Đại Việt to urge the Trần emperor to carry out the marriage plan as Trần Nhân Tông had promised but the Emperor refused. Among the Emperor's men, only General Văn Túc Đạo Tái and Minister Trần Khắc Chung supported the marriage. In 1306, on orders of Trần Anh Tông, Huyền Trân was married to the Champa king as Queen Parameshvari of Champa, in return for the two provinces of Châu Ô and Châu Lý (or Châu Rí) (today these provinces are Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị,

Huế Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...

and

Danang Da Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons (, ) is the list of cities in Vietnam, fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the Western Pacific Ocean of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River (Vietnam), Hàn R ...

). Huyền Trân went to Champa but a year later, in May 1307, Jaya Sinhavarman III died and the crown prince Chế Chí sent an ambassador to Đại Việt to offer white elephants as gifts and announced the death of his king. According to the Hindu- and Cham - Sati tradition, all of the royal wives would be cremated with the dead king. Trần Anh Tông ordered a general named Trần Khắc Chung to go to Champa to officially attend the funeral but the real mission was for Trần Khắc Chung to rescue Huyền Trân and take her back to Đại Việt. Following an extravagant rescue plot, the trip back by boat took a year. Legends had it that Trần Khắc Chung fell in love with Huyền Trân and the two disappeared from sight together but there is no historical proof to back up this story.

Huyền Trân in art

The adventure and rescue of princess Huyền Trân (well known in Vietnamese literature and history as "Huyền Trân Công Chúa") has become an attractive topic for poems, arts and music in Vietnamese

chữ Nôm Chữ Nôm (, ) is a logographic writing system formerly used to write the Vietnamese language. It uses Chinese characters to represent Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary and some native Vietnamese words, with other words represented by new characters ...

. Her marriage is also proverbial. * Play: ''Huyên Trân công chúa'' (Princess Huyền Trân) by Đoàn Thanh Ái * Literature: ''Hermitage Among the Clouds'' by

Thích Nhất Hạnh Thích Nhất Hạnh ( ; , Huế dialect: ; born Nguyễn Xuân Bảo; 11 October 1926 – 22 January 2022) was a Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, peace activist, prolific author, poet, and teacher, who founded the Plum Village Tradition, ...

* Poems: ''Princess Huyền Trân'' by Hoàng Cao Khải, and ''Farewell to Huyền Trân'' by Đào Tiến Luyện * Music: ''Epic of the Mandarin Road'', **''Farewell to Huyền Trân'' by Đào Tiến Luyện, set to music by

Phạm Duy Phạm Duy (5 October 1921 – 27 January 2013) was one of Vietnam's most prolific songwriters with a musical career that spanned more than seven decades through some of the most turbulent periods of Vietnamese history and with more than one ...

, **''Princess Huyền Trân'' by musician Nguyễn Hiền, **''Missing'' by musician Châu Kỳ, **''Love story of Huyền Trân'' by Nam Lộc, *''Hard life in Champa'' (folklore song). Most cities in Vietnam have named major streets after her.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huyen Tran 1289 births 14th-century deaths Trần dynasty princesses Vietnamese Buddhist nuns History of Champa Deified Vietnamese people 14th-century Buddhist nuns 13th-century Vietnamese women 13th-century Vietnamese people 14th-century Vietnamese women 14th-century Vietnamese people Queens consort Royalty from Hanoi