Jyestha or Jyeṣṭhāryā (9th-century), was a

queen regnant A queen regnant (: queens regnant) is a female monarch, equivalent in rank, title and position to a king. She reigns ''suo jure'' (in her own right) over a realm known as a kingdom; as opposed to a queen consort, who is married to a reigning ...

Sambhupura Isanapura (), also known as Sambhupura () or Sambor of St'ung Sen, was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Chenla. It is located in what is now Kampong Thom Province in Cambodia. The city was founded in about 618 at Leek Sambor Kuk by King ...

Chenla Chenla or Zhenla ( zh, t=真臘, s=, 真腊, p=Zhēnlà, w=Chen-la; , ; ) is the Chinese designation for the vassal of the kingdom of Funan preceding the Khmer Empire that existed from around the late 6th to the early 9th century in Indochina. ...

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

. She was the daughter of queen Jayaendra allaha or

Jayendrabhā Jayendrabhā or Jayaendra allaha (8th-century - 9th-century), was a queen regnant of Sambhupura Chenla in Cambodia. She was also the queen of Jayavarman II, the king of Lower Chenla. She was the daughter of queen Nṛpatendradevī or Nrpendrad ...

of Sambhupura and king

Jayavarman II Jayavarman II (; – 850, reigned –850) was a Khmer prince who founded and became the ruler of the Khmer Empire (Cambodia) after unifying the Khmer civilization. The Khmer Empire was the dominant civilization in mainland Southeast Asia from t ...

, and half sister of king Jayavarman III, who was the son of Jayavarman II by Dharanindradevi. An inscription describes her as ‘the elder daughter of kanhen kamratan an Sri Jayendra allaha, granddaughter of kanhen kamratan an Sri Nrpendradevi, great-granddaughter of vrah kamratan an Sri Indraloka’. Jyestha, daughter of queen Jayaendra allaha of Sambhupura, is attested as queen in 803. She appears to have inherited the throne from her mother, who had in turn inherited the throne from her mother, queen Nrpendradevi. It appears Jyestha ruled while her father Jayavarman II was busy, but the next ruler of Cambodia was her half brother Jayavarman III. Queen Jyeṣṭhāryā issued her inscription in 803 AD, one year after Jayavarman II assumed the sovereign status of the

Khmer Empire The Khmer Empire was an empire in Southeast Asia, centered on Hydraulic empire, hydraulic cities in what is now northern Cambodia. Known as Kambuja (; ) by its inhabitants, it grew out of the former civilization of Chenla and lasted from 802 t ...

in 802 AD. It seems that the date 802 is given in revolved year whereas the date 803 refers to the current year, thus making both the events take place in the course of the same calendar year. It may be that Jyeṣṭhāryā was overthrown by Jayavarman II shortly after she had issued her inscription. As monarch, Queen Jyestha formed the basis of a funerary cult; in 895 an emissary of the court noted in a matter concerning some slaves, that they were part of the property belonging to ‘the vrah kamraten an, the lady Jyestha’. In the 9th-century, the capital of the new united Cambodia was relocated to the new city of

Angkor Wat Angkor Wat (; , "City/Capital of Wat, Temples") is a Buddhism and Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhist temple complex in Cambodia. Located on a site measuring within the ancient Khmer Empire, Khmer capital city of Angkor, it was originally constructed ...

by king Yaśovarman I (r. 889–912), and there are no inscriptions noting any autonomously ruling female monarchs during the

. Queen Jyeṣṭhāryā may therefore have been the last female monarch in Cambodia until Queen Tey in the 17th-century.

References

Cambodian Hindus 9th-century Cambodian monarchs 9th-century queens regnant 9th-century Cambodian women 9th-century Cambodian people Monarchs of Chenla {{Cambodia-royal-stub