Historical figure
Bhavavarman II
Bhavavarman II was a king of Chenla in the 7th century, who followed Isanavarman I on the throne.[1][2] His son, Jayavarman I, succeeded him.[1]
Reign
Piphal Heng and Paul Lavy date his reign, with a question mark, to about the late 630s to the 650s.[3] Maurice Glaize's list of kings, published in 1944, gives 639. Glaize placed him in the period he called Chenla unified, from 627 to the end of the 7th century.[2]
The inscription of Wat Phu
The inscription K. 1059, from Lingaparvata, the mountain of Wat Phu, is a short Sanskrit text of six stanzas. Dominic Goodall published it in Udaya No. 15 (2020).[4] It praises the god Vishnu and then turns to a King Bhavavarman, whom Goodall identifies as Bhavavarman II. The king is pictured as a moon in the sky of the lunar dynasty, yet fierce to his enemies in battle, and called "overlord of kings".[4] A warrior who was his most favored servant received great honor for his service. The warrior's son was honored in turn by Jayavarman I, with marks of rank such as a white parasol and the title Jayantakurāja. He became governor of Lingapura, a town Goodall placed, presumably, on or near the Wat Phu mountain.[4] Goodall wrote that the inscription shows one family honored by two generations of 7th-century kings, Bhavavarman II and Jayavarman I.[4]
Sambor Prei Kuk
At Sambor Prei Kuk, most of the northern group of monuments was probably built in the first three quarters of the 7th century, under Isanavarman I and his successors, Bhavavarman II and Jayavarman I.[3] Two sculptures found there, a Durga Mahishasuramardini ("Slayer of the Buffalo Demon") and a Harihara, are held at the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh. Heng and Lavy wrote that both are likely from the first half of the 7th century, probably from the reign of Isanavarman I or of Bhavavarman II.[3]
Goodall wrote that the damaged inscription K. 439, from the northern group, seems to record a meritorious foundation tied to two brothers who served a King Bhavavarman.[5] George Coedès took this king to be Bhavavarman II. Goodall wrote, in Udaya No. 16 (2025), that following Pottier it may rather be Bhavavarman I.[5]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Angkor Database, Haksrea Kuoch, Survey of the Southern Provinces of Cambodia in the Pre-Angkor Era (1976)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Angkor Database, Maurice Glaize, The Monuments of the Angkor Group (1944; English translation of the fourth French edition)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Angkor Database, Piphal Heng and Paul A. Lavy, Pre-Angkorian cities: Ishanapura and Mahendraparvata (undated)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Udaya, Journal of Khmer Studies, Dominic Goodall, Two inscriptions from Lingaparvata (Vat Phu), one dating to Jayavarman I's reign (K. 1059) and the other to Jayavarman II's (K. 1060), along with a re-edition of K. 762 (No. 15, 2020)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Udaya, Journal of Khmer Studies, Dominic Goodall, Administrative zones for pious foundations under Īśānavarman I? Edition and translation of the seventh-century Sanskrit inscription K. 1418 (No. 16, 2025)