Isanavarman I

Chenla › Isanapura

1. Funanto about 550
2. Chenla6th to 8th century
3. Angkor802 to 1431
4. After Angkor1431 to 1794
5. Modern kingdomfrom 1794

BeforeMahendravarman (Chitrasena)about 600 to 615 (Glaize 1944)about 600 (Kuoch 1976)

This reignIsanavarman Iabout 615 to 635 (Glaize 1944)about 616 to 637 (Heng and Lavy 2018)

AfterBhavavarman II639 (Glaize 1944)

All Khmer monarchs

Isanavarman I (also spelled Ishanavarman I) was a king of Chenla in the early 7th century, ruling from the city of Ishanapura at Sambor Prei Kuk. Piphal Heng and Paul Lavy give his reign as around 616 to 637. Michel Tranet dates the monuments of his reign to 615 to 628.

Prasat Yeah Puon, one of the temple groups at Sambor Prei Kuk, the site of Ishanapura, 2025.

Historical figure details
Roles	King of Chenla
Period	Early 7th century
Country	Chenla (present-day Cambodia)
Subjects	History & Remembrance

Family and rise

His father was Chitrasena, who took the name Mahendravarman when he became king around 600. Chitrasena had joined his cousin Bhavavarman in attacking Funan, the older kingdom to the south, in the second half of the 6th century. Funan came fully under Chenla's rule only in Isanavarman's reign.

Reign

Many inscriptions of his reign have been found in the provinces of Kampong Cham, Prey Veng, Kandal and Takeo, in southern Cambodia. They show a king whose authority was firmly established. The Chinese New History of the Tang credits him with conquering Funan early in the period from 627 to 649.

Another Chinese record, the History of the Sui, names a king Y-che-na-sien-tai with his palace at the capital Y-che-na. These names match Ishanavarman and Ishanapura. A gold medallion said to come from Angkor Borei is inscribed, in restored readings, with "Ishanapura" on one face and "Ishanavarman" on the other.

Ishanapura

Ishanapura lay beside the Sen River, on its northern side, in present-day Kampong Thom province. Its remains at Sambor Prei Kuk were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2017 as the capital of Chenla.

Most inscriptions from Sambor Prei Kuk name Isanavarman, but only one names the city itself. It records the marriage of one of his daughters and religious gifts made by her husband. Isanavarman is usually credited with founding the city. Other inscriptions suggest it may go back to an earlier king, Bhavavarman I, who reigned around 550 to 600.

The southern group of temples at the site is the most consistent and the easiest to date, and it is generally linked with his reign. Two almost identical inscriptions there praise him at length. They also honor Prahasiteshvara, the "Smiling Lord," a form of the Hindu god Shiva who seems to merge with the king. The inscriptions say he set up other images too, among them forms of Shiva, Brahma and Sarasvati and a silver figure of Shiva's bull. An inscription from a temple of the northern group records a statue, probably of a goddess, given by his queen, Sakaramanjari.

Successors

Bhavavarman II followed Isanavarman as king, and his son Jayavarman I came after him. A 658 inscription of the Cham king Prakashadharma says that his mother was a daughter of Isanavarman, whom his father had married at the city of Bhavapura. Bhavavarman II reigned perhaps from the late 630s into the 650s, and Jayavarman I from around 657 to 681.

References