Historical figure
Dhammaraja
Dhammaraja was a 15th-century Khmer king who ruled from Catumukh (Chaktomuk), the site of Phnom Penh, in the decades after the royal court left Angkor. The historian Nhim Sotheavin writes his name Dhammarājā, and Kitagawa Takako writes it Thomma Reacea.[1][2] The Cambodian royal chronicles give different dates and family ties for him, and no record from the time survives for the war of his reign.[2]
Family
Nhim Sotheavin names him a son of Ponhea Yat and the father of two kings, Sri Sugandhapad and Ang Chan I.[1] Kitagawa Takako sets out the other readings. In the French translation by Garnier and in a manuscript kept in Bangkok, he is the younger brother of King Srei Reachea (Sri Raja). In the translation by Moura, he is Srei Reachea's son.[2]
A divided kingdom
In Nhim Sotheavin's account, a war among three kings, Sri Raja, Sri Soriyodai and Dhammaraja, lasted for years and left the country in three parts. While Sri Raja was fighting Siam in the west, Sri Soriyodai turned against him and took the eastern provinces. Dhammaraja took control of Catumukh and of the western provinces from Samrong Tong to the sea.[1]
The chronicle of Vāṃṅ Juon places his palace at Catumukh and his lands west of the Bassac River.[2] Nhim Sotheavin gives 1479 as the year he took the throne at Catumukh, ruling Samrong Tong, Thpong, Kampong Som and Kampot.[1] Sri Soriyodai ruled from Srei Santhor, east of the Mekong.[1][2]
Siam and the end of the war
In 1485, by Nhim Sotheavin's account, Dhammaraja asked the king of Siam for help. A Siamese army defeated Sri Raja's forces at Kampong Siem, and Sri Raja agreed to make peace with Dhammaraja and Sri Soriyodai. At the Siamese king's request, Dhammaraja sent Sri Raja and Sri Soriyodai to Ayutthaya, where both died of disease a few years later.[1]
Dhammaraja was crowned king at Catumukh in 1486. His reign ended with his death in 1504. Sri Sugandhapad, his son, succeeded him and later moved the court to Basan.[1]
Dates in the chronicles
The chronicles date these events decades apart.[2]
- Nhim Sotheavin's chart of the kings who ruled at Srei Santhor gives his reign as 1468 to 1504.[1]
- Garnier's translation and the Bangkok manuscript date his crowning at Phnom Penh to 1468 and the coming of Siamese troops to 1476.[2]
- Moura's translation dates his crowning to 1477, after he gathered an army at Ba Phnom and drove back a Siamese invasion.[2]
- The chronicle of Vāṃṅ Juon dates his crowning to 1478 and his call for Siamese troops to 1485.[2]
Kitagawa Takako concludes that, with the dates and the course of events differing between the manuscripts and no record from the time, the truth of this revolt cannot be settled.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Institute of Asian Culture, Sophia University, Nhim Sotheavin, Factors that Led to the Change of the Khmer Capitals from the 15th to 17th century (undated)
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 Kyoto University, Kitagawa Takako, History of the Water Kings in Srei Santhor (in Japanese), Southeast Asian Studies 38(1): 50-73 (2000)