Īśānavarman (Khmer: ឦសានវរ្ម័នទី១, Īsānavarman, Iśânasena) or Yīshēnàxiāndài (Chinese: 伊奢那先代) was a king of the kingdom of Chenla in 7th century, which would later become the Khmer Empire. He was the son of, and successor to Mahendravarman.^{[1]: 69 [2]: 294}

The name Isanavarman was derived from the word Siva. King Isanavarman was also called Protégé of the Master Siva.^[3]

After Mahendravarman's death, Isanavarman took Isanapura as his capital. The Sambor Prei Kuk historical complex has been identified as Isanapura, the 7th century capital of Chenla.^[4]

The main temples at Sambor Prei Kuk are said to have been founded by King Isanavarman I.

The Book of Sui, compiled in 636, states that at the beginning of the 7th century, Zhēnlà was ruled by one Yīshēnàxiāndài (Īśānavarman) (伊奢那先代). Inscription at Prasat Toc, Prasat Bayang, Vat Chakret, Kdei Ang Chumnik and Sambor Prei Kuk is attributed to the reign of Isanavarman I. The latest inscription attributed to him has been dated to 627 (549 Saka), while the only dated inscription attributed to his successor, Bhavavarman II, is of 639.^[5]

Ma Duanlin described King Ishanavarman's "sumptuous court" at Ishanapura, with the king wearing a crown of gold with precious stones, pearl pendants, and attended by five great ministers.^{[1]: 74–76} Inscriptions to his reign may be found at Kdei Ang (AD 667), Roban Romas, Kuk Prah Kot, Wat Chakret, and Wat Po. The claimed authority over Tamrapura, Cakrankapura, Amoghapura and Bhimapura.^{[6]: 36–39} A claim of descent from him was made outside Chenla as well. A copper-plate inscription of the mid-seventh century recovered within the ancient settlement of Mueang Uthong in central Thailand (K.964) records that its author, Śrī Harṣavarman, came to power by regular succession and asserts his descent as a grandson of King Śrī Īśānavarman, almost certainly Īśānavarman I; John Guy takes the plate, which also records the gift of a kośa or precious-metal sheath for a Śiva liṅga, as evidence of a lineage connection between the Chenla court and a ruling house in the western Chao Phraya plain.^[7]: 51 Phuthorn Bhumadhon has questioned whether the plate can be read as evidence for a local kingdom there at all, suggesting that it may instead date from a period of Khmer occupation.^[7]: 100 A later palaeographic study by Kangwon Katchima, supported by Anurak Depimai, dates the plate's script to around the 8th–9th century, well after Īśānavarman I's own reign — on this reading its description of Harṣavarman as his "grandson" (nadda) more plausibly denotes dynastic succession than a literal descent, and Harṣavarman may have ruled Mueang Uthong as one of several Dvaravati capitals of the period.^{[8]: 44–5} The mid-seventh-century reading nonetheless remains current. Robert Brown has argued that the Īśānavarman named in the plate can only be Īśānavarman I of Sambor Prei Kuk, and Michael Vickery that Śrī Harṣavarman probably headed a branch of Cambodian royalty which had established a centre of its own in what is now central or eastern Thailand, although Cœdès in 1958 and Claude Jacques in 1986 and 1989 had each questioned which Īśānavarman was meant.^[9]: 51

Besides the future King Bhavavarman II, a second son, Shivadatta, was governor of Jyesthapura.^{[6]: 36–39} The Wat Kut Tae inscription (K. 1150 / P.Ch. 26) names him svāmi of that polity and elder brother of Bhavavarman II; Jyesthapura is placed in the area of Prasat Khao Noi and the ancient settlement of Mueang Phai, near Aranyaprathet in present-day Sa Kaeo province, on the western side of the Dângrêk range.^{[9]: 50–1} The badly worn Khao Noi inscription (K. 506 / P.Ch. 16), dated 637, records Vaiṣṇava dedications made there by Isvarakumara, likewise svāmi of Jyesthapura, who is styled bhṛtya or servant of a king whom Vickery takes to be Isanavarman I and Jacques to be Bhavavarman II; the title indicates subordination and not, in itself, descent.^[9]: 50

An inscription dating from the reign of Isanarvarman I, translated, reads: “The great King Isanavarman is full of glory and bravery. He is the King of Kings, who rules over Suvarnabhumi until the sea [Samudra-paryanta Suvarṇabhūmi], which is the border, while the kings in the neighbouring states honour his order to their heads”.^[10] Dr Vong Sotheara, of the Royal University of Phnom Penh, claimed that the inscription would “prove that Suvarnabhumi was the Khmer Empire.”

Sons of Isanavarman

1. Sivadatta
2. Isvarakumara
3. Yuvaraja (Crown Prince) – Name not identified from historical records

Isanavarman also had a daughter, Sri Sarvani, who was married to a Cham prince, Jagaddharma, and became the mother of Vikrantavarman I of Champa (r. c. 653–686).^{[8]: 42–3} The marriage is recorded in a Sanskrit inscription from Mỹ Sơn (C. 96), dated 657 or 658, which states that Jagaddharma travelled to the town of Bhava, probably Bhavapura and perhaps a reference to Sambor Prei Kuk, and there married the princess, and that their son Prakāśadharma took the Cham throne as Vikrantavarman I.^{[9]: 51–2} This marriage, together with the K.964 claim of descent at Mueang Uthong discussed above, has been read as part of a wider network of kinship ties linking Isanavarman's court to neighbouring polities rather than direct administrative rule over them, consistent with several of those polities, including Dvaravati and Si Thep, asserting independence not long after his death.^{[8]: 51–2}

Historical connections

An incomplete inscription thought to be from the reign of King Isanavarman narrates, “The great King Īśānavarman is full of glory and bravery. He is the King of Kings, who rules over Suvarṇabhūmi until the sea [Samudra-paryanta Suvarṇabhūmi], which is the border, while the kings in the neighboring states honour his order to their heads.”^[11]

An incomplete Sanskrit inscription, found in the south gate of the Jami Masjid at Jaunpur, has traditionally been ascribed to the Maukhari king of Kanauj Īśvaravarman (first half of 6th century), which shows the connection of the Khmer kingdom with rulers at India during the same period.^[12]

References

• Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient 1904 - BEFEO 1904
• Vickery, Michael. (2000) "Colloque George Coedès aujourd‟hui". Bangkok, Centre d‟Anthropologie Sirindhorn, 9–10 September 1999.

Published as “Coedès‟ Histories of Cambodia”, in Silpakorn University International Journal (Bangkok,), Volume 1, Number 1, January–June 2000, pp. 61–108.

• Vickery, Michael. (1998). "Society, economics, and politics in pre-Angkor Cambodia: the 7th–8th centuries." :Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies for Unesco. ISBN 9784896561104
• Marr, David G./ Millner, A. C./ Gungwu, Wang (1986). "Southeast Asia in the Ninth to Fourteenth Centuries.". ISBN 9971988399
• Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra. (1980). "Kambuja-Deśa: or, An ancient Hindu colony in Cambodia." :Institute for the Study of Human Issues. ISBN 0915980282

External links

• the Vat Chakret temple inscription of Ishanavarman
• Cambodian rulers^{[dead link]}