(Lokeśvara) and
Prajñāpāramitā, from Ðại Hữu,
Quảng Bình province. , built around 9–11th century CE Interesting parallels may be observed between the history of northern Champa (Indrapura and Vijaya) and that of its neighbor and rival to the west, the
Khmer civilization of
Angkor, located just to the north of the great lake
Tonlé Sap in what is now
Cambodia. The foundation of the Cham dynasty at Indrapura in 875 was followed by the foundation of the Khmer empire at
Roluos in 877 by King Indravarman I, who united two previously independent regions of Cambodia. The parallels continued as the two peoples flourished from the 10th through 12th centuries, then went into gradual decline, suffering their ultimate defeat in the 15th century. In 982, King
Lê Hoàn of Đại Việt sent army invaded Champa, sacked Indrapura and beheaded Champa king. The new Champa king agreed to pay tributes to Vietnamese court every year until 1064. In 1238, the Khmer lost control of their western possessions around
Sukhothai as the result of a Thai revolt. The successful revolt not only ushered in the era of Thai independence but also foreshadowed the eventual abandonment of Angkor in 1431, following its sack by Thai invaders from the kingdom of
Ayutthaya, which had absorbed Sukhothai in 1376. The decline of Champa was roughly contemporaneous with that of Angkor and was precipitated by pressure from Đại Việt of what is now northern Vietnam, culminating in the conquest and obliteration of Vijaya in 1471. A Chinese merchant from Quanzhou, Wang Yuanmao, traded extensively with Champa and married a Cham princess.
Contact with San-fo-qi The
Song Huiyao Jigao lists San-fo-qi (Sanfoche, Three Boja?) for being Champa's one important trade partner. San-fo-qi is mentioned in a Cham envoy 1011 as home for a lion that the Cham had offered the Song court as tribute, though in fact the animal presumably came from Africa or Central Asia. The Buranun were then subjected to retaliatory slaughter by the Orang Dampuan. Harmonious commerce between Sulu and the Orang Dampuan was later restored. The Yakans were descendants of the Taguima-based Orang Dampuan who came to Sulu from Champa.
Relations with Arab peninsula and Persia Part of the SHYJG also notes that in Champa 'their customs and clothing are similar to those of the country of Dashi (a medieval Chinese collective name for the Arab peninsula and Persia).' Among Champa's trade goods to China, textiles from Dashi are recorded, and Dashi is mentioned as one of the transit points for the lion which was brought to the Song court by Champa as tribute. Two Kufic gravestones dating from 1039 in Phan Rang marked a tomb of a Muslim trader named Abu Kamil, which indicates a small Muslim community in 11th century Champa.
Khmer invasions of Kauthara (944–950) In 944 and 945, Khmer troops from Cambodia invaded the region of Kauthara. Around 950, the Khmer under
Rajendravarman II pillaged the temple of
Po Nagar and carried off the statue of the goddess.
War with Đại Cồ Việt in 982 In the latter half of the 10th century, the kings of Indrapura waged war against the Vietnamese. The Viet had spent the better part of the century securing and consolidating their independence from the Chinese. Following the defeat of the Chinese fleet by king
Ngô Quyền in the
Battle of Bạch Đằng in 938, the country had gone through a period of internal turmoil until its final reunification by king
Dinh Bo Linh in 968 under the name Đại Cồ Việt kingdom, and the establishment of a capital at
Hoa Lư near modern
Ninh Bình. on the Po Nagar stele, 965 CE. The stele describes feats by king
Jaya Indravarman I (r. 960–972). In 979, the Cham King
Parameshvaravarman I (Phê Mi Thuê to the Viet) sent a fleet to attack
Hoa Lư in support of dissatisfied prince
Ngô Nhật Khánh following the
Vietnamese civil war of twelve warlords. However, the ill-fated expedition was scuttled by a typhoon.
Michael Vickery doubts this narrative. He insists that the new king
Harivarman II (r. 989–997) was crowned in the city of Foshi, or Indrapura, rather than Vijaya, as textual evidence from inscriptions and Chinese texts had provided. When the Vietnamese sent Cham prisoners to China, the Chinese sent them back to Champa in 992. Several Chinese accounts record Cham arriving on Hainan. When the Cham capital fell in 982 to Dai Viet, several Cham fled to Hainan during the
Song dynasty. After the fall of the capital Indrapura, some Cham fled to Guangzhou as well. They became a–ncestors of the modern day
Utsuls on Hainan, who are Muslims and still speak a Cham language.
Champa rice was introduced from Champa to China during the reign of
Emperor Zhenzong of Song.
Sack of Vijaya by the Việt (11th century) Conflict between Champa and Đại Việt did not end, however, with the abandonment of Indrapura. Champa suffered further Viet attacks in 1021 and 1026. Thirty thousand Cham were killed. Champa began to pay tribute to the Viet kings, including a
white rhinoceros in 1065 and a
white elephant in 1068 sent to
Lý Thánh Tông. Taking advantage of the debacle, a leader in southern Champa rebelled and established an independent kingdom. The northern kings were not able to reunite the country until 1084.
Khmer invasions of northern Champa (1074, 1144–1149) In 1074, King
Harivarman IV took the throne, restoring the temples at Mỹ Sơn and ushering in a period of relative prosperity. Harivarman made peace with Đại Việt but provoked war with the Khmer of
Angkor. Around 1080, a new dynasty from the
Khorat Plateau in modern
Thailand occupied the throne of Angkor in Cambodia. Soon enough, the kings of the new dynasty embarked on a program of empire-building. Rebuffed in their attempts to conquer Đại Việt in the 1128, 1132, and 1138,
Sack of Angkor by the Cham (1177) at the late 12th-century
Angkorian temple called the
Bayon depicts Cham mariners in action against the Khmer. devouring a serpent In 1167, King
Jaya Indravarman IV ascended to the throne in Champa. An inscription characterized him as brave, well-versed in weapons, and knowledgeable of philosophy,
Mahayana theories, and the
Dharmasutra. After securing peace with Đại Việt in 1170, Jaya Indravarman invaded Cambodia with inconclusive results. In 1177, however, his troops launched a surprise attack against the Khmer capital of
Yasodharapura from warships piloted up the
Mekong River to the great lake
Tonlé Sap in Cambodia. The invaders sacked the capital in 1177, China transferred
crossbow technology to Champa. When the Chams sacked Angkor they used the Chinese siege crossbow. Crossbows were given to the Chams by China. Crossbows and archery while mounted were instructed to the Cham by a Chinese in 1171.
Conquest of Champa by the Khmer and Cambodian rule (1190–1220) The Khmer were rallied by a new king,
Jayavarman VII, who drove the Cham from Cambodia in 1181. When
Jaya Indravarman IV launched another attack against Cambodia in 1190, Jayavarman VII appointed a Cham prince named
Vidyanandana to lead the Khmer army. Vidyanandana defeated the invaders and proceeded to occupy
Vijaya and to capture Jaya Indravarman IV, whom he sent back to Angkor as a prisoner. Khmer troops attempted unsuccessfully to regain control over Champa throughout the 1190s. In 1203, finally, Jayavarman VII's general Yuvaraja Mnagahna On Dhanapati Grama defeated Suryavarman, sending him into exile.
Jaya Paramesvaravarman II was crowned in 1226 and built his palace in Shri Vijaya, restoring the Champas to power.
Trần Thái Tông sent a punitive expedition against Champa for its continued piracy of the Đại Việt coast, bringing back the Champa Queen Bo-da-la and the king's concubines as prisoners in 1252.
Indravarman V was crowned in 1266, In the 1270s,
Kublai Khan had established his capital and dynasty at
Beijing and had toppled the southern Chinese
Song dynasty. By 1280, he would turn his attention to the Cham and Viet kingdoms located in the territory of modern Vietnam. In 1283,
Mongol troops of the
Yuan dynasty under General Sogetu (Sagatou, So Tou, So To, or Sodu)
invaded Champa and occupied Vijaya after capturing the citadel of Mou-cheng. However, Indravarman V fled into the mountains. Despite dispersion the Champa troops on a number of occasions, the Mongols were not "progressing one step into a country where they suffered from the heat, illness, and a lack of supplies."
Trần Thánh Tông and then
Trần Nhân Tông, just like Indravarman V, "obstinately refused" to present themselves to the court of the Khan or make any "act of vassalage", and refused the Mongols passage through Đại Việt. However, Indravarman V did send an ambassador to Kublai on 6 Oct. 1285.
Decline of Champa in the 14th century The fourteenth century saw a great void of indigenous information within Champa, with no inscription was erected after 1307, until 1401, although the Cham annals still has a list of 14th century kings of Panduranga. Religious construction and art came to a standstill, and sometimes degraded. These could be hints of decline of Indic culture in Champa, or consequence of Champa's devastating war with the Dai Viet and the Sukhothai. For the reasons of the complete blackout of 14th-century Cham historiography, Pierre Lafont argues, were perhaps due to Champa's previous long conflicts with their neighbors, the Angkor Empire and Dai Viet, and recently Mongols, had caused mass destruction and socio-cultural breakdown. Unraveled grievances and deteriorating economic conditions continued to pile up. Engraving Sanskrit inscriptions in Champa, the language mainly used for religious purposes, ceased to exist by 1253. Some cities and farmland were left abandoned, such as
Tra Kieu (Simhapura). The gradual religious shift to
Islam in Champa from 11th to 15th centuries undermined the established Hindu-Buddhist kingship and the king's spiritual divinity, resulting in growing royal frustrations and strife between the Cham aristocracy. These led to constant instability and the ultimate decline of Champa during the 14th century. Because none inscription within Champa during this period have been found, it's insecure to establish a lineage of Champa rulers without knowing what their native names and which years they reigned. Historians have to recite various Vietnamese chronicles and Chinese annals to reconstruct Champa during the 14th century cautiously.
Etienne Aymonier proposes a reconstructed list of 14th-century Campa ruler, which is widely accepted:
Chế Mân →
Chế Chí →
Chế Năng →
Chế A Nan →
Trà Hòa Bố Để →
Chế Bồng Nga →
La Khai (Jaya Simhavarman VI)
Chế Chi and Chế Anan Chế Mân's son,
Chế Chi, was captured in 1312 by
Trần Anh Tông and died a prisoner in Gia-lam Palace. Champa thus became a Vietnamese province.
Chế Anan was able to win back its independence in 1326.
Defeat and destruction of Vijaya by Đại Việt , the ancient Cham capital. During the reign of the
Hongwu Emperor in
Ming China, Champa sent tribute to China to garner Chinese help in the wars with the Dai Viet. The Hongwu Emperor was dead set against military actions in the region of Southeast Asia, merely rebuking the Vietnamese for their offensive. In 1401 and 1402,
Hồ Quý Ly sent expeditions against Champa, forcing
Indravarman VI to relinquish half of his territory. Indravarman VI was able to regain his territory when the
Yongle Emperor captured Hồ Quý Ly and
Hồ Hán Thương during the
Ming conquest of Dai Viet in 1407. Indravarman VI then engaged in raiding the Khmer's under
Ponhea Yat. Hostilities against Champa were initiated by the new Vietnamese dynasty. Champa's economy and commerce still flourished during early half of the 15th century. A Cham record in Drang Lai (present-day in
Gia Lai) mentions
lauvv (Lao),
yvan (Viet),
kur (Khmer),
syaṁ (Siamese),
[ja]vā (Javanese),
vaṅgalā (Bengali) merchants of various kingdoms arrived in the highlands of Champa to trade and offered to the service of a temple of Śiva. Following raids by
Maha Vijaya into Hoa-chau in 1444 and 1445, Đại Việt Emperor
Lê Nhân Tông, under the leadership of
Trịnh Khả, launched an invasion of Champa in 1446. The attack was successful, Vijaya fell to the invaders, and "Maha Vijaya" was taken prisoner. Maha Qui-lai was then made Emperor of Champa. The trade in
Vietnamese ceramics was damaged due to the plummet in trade by Cham merchants after the invasion. After the war, the Vietnamese navy took patrol over the South China sea trade routes, established
Hoi An as the trade city, freely exporting Vietnamese products to Southeast Asia. ==Later history of Champa==