Chenla

Chenla

The Chenla civilisation flourished from the late 6th to early 9th century occupying a large swathe of Southeast Asia including Cambodia, southern Laos, parts of the Mekong Delta and much of what is today central and northeastern Thailand. It was to give rise to the wonders of the Angkor empire – Bayon, Angkor Thom, Preah Vihear and of course Angkor Wat itself – yet very few people have ever heard of it. Peruse the archaeology or ancient history shelves of your local library or – if you’re lucky enough to still have one – book shop and you’re unlikely to find any works on the subject. (Indeed, a situation that regrettably applies to most early Southeast Asian civilisations, be it Dvaravati, Cham, Srivijaya or Funan.)

Yet plenty of vestiges remain scattered throughout the region; temples, sanctuaries, walled and moated settlements, entire ruined cities while one of its former capitals is now even a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On our small group tours to Cambodia, Laos and Thailand you’ll visit spectacular Chenla sites and come across impressive artefacts in museums. We can see how their cities were laid out, how their temples appeared, which gods they worshipped, even which language they spoke and which script they used yet few historians have bothered to dive into it very deeply and the entire 250 years of culture has managed to fly almost completely under the historical radar. (1) So, exactly what and where was Chenla?

The handful of archeologists that have turned their attention to the civilisation; Claude Jacques, Michael Vickery and George Coedes for example, disagree on pretty much every aspect of its history. Scant sources principally include sandstone inscriptions, (which during this period usually employed a Pallava script and Sanskrit language), and old Chinese accounts neither of which are either detailed nor entirely reliable. (Indeed the name Chenla is merely taken from ancient Chinese records and as non-Khmer word was certainly not the actual term by which its citizens referred to themselves.)

Origins

The consensus is that Chenla began life as a kingdom, or chiefdom, centred around the ancient city of Shrestapura, located close to the site of the Angkor-period sanctuary of Wat Phu in southern Laos’s Champassak Province. In its early days Chenla is thought to have been under the control of Funan, a powerful polity based in the Mekong Delta, although some authors prefer to replace Funan with Champa. (Both were coastal, maritime-based polities and if the population of the former was probably largely Mon-Khmer, its rulers and aristocrats were likely also ethnic, Austronesian, Cham.)

Funan flourished from the 2nd century CE onwards but by the late 6th was already, for various reasons, in a period of decline and it’s around the middle of the century that Chenla, under King Viravarman, appears to have begun to assert its independence and fill a growing power vacuum. Although little is known of this king, his two sons, Citrasena and Bhavavarman, became key figures in Khmer history. They were either brothers or half brothers – another point of debate – but, again, for reasons unknown, both decided to leave their hometown to apparently seek fame and fortune elsewhere. The former went west, the latter south. As the elder, Bhavavarman was heir to the throne and on his succession founded his own capital city of Bhavapura. Not surprisingly, its location is hotly debated and if you refer to 6 historians, you’ll likely find 6 different, suggested locations. In our opinion, the most likely ones, (housing the highest concentrations of structures which can be dated to his reign), are Thala Borivet in present-day Stueng Treng Province in northern Cambodia, or Sambor Prei Kuk in Kampong Thom Province. (Phnom Hanchei overlooking the Mekong in Kampong Cham Province also houses a cluster of sanctuaries from this period.)

Thala Borivet features a cluster of mid to late 6th century ruined temples and is a geographically logical candidate as it lies aside the Mekong some 200 kilometres due south of Shrestapura. At the turn of the century, and death of Bhavavarman, his brother acceded to the throne adopting the post coronation title of Mahendravarman. By this time the throne seems conclusively to have been located at the more centrally located Sambor Prei Kuk which was to become the undisputed Chenla capital for the next 100 years.

7th Century

Mahendravarman was succeeded by Ishnavarman, or Ishanavarman, (c. 612-628), who predictably changed the capital’s name to Ishanapura, followed by Bhavavarman II (c. 638-656) and Jayavarman I, (c. 657-681). Once again, for unknown reasons, at some stage Jayavarman I decided to move his capital west and established the first major settlement in the vicinity of what was to become Angkor in today’s Siem Reap Province. (See our capitals of Cambodia post.) Historians argue over the nature of this early Chenla polity with Vickery for example maintaining that Chenla merely described a collection of disparate Khmer chiefdoms lacking a political centre or cohesive structure. However, we would maintain that there is considerable evidence to the contrary and that early Chenla appears to have been a relatively unified, independent polity and that its kings effectively ruled over, or influenced, wide swathes of Southeast Asia.

Even in the early years, some 15 inscriptions found to date – in widely differing provinces of Thailand – describe the late 6th century peregrinations and conquests of Citrasena/Mahendravarman while steles as far away as western Thailand attest to the power, prestige and influence of King Ishanavarman. (Another text praises Ishanavarman and Bhavavarman’s – presumably Bhavavarman II – conquest of Funan.) Furthermore, no single site contains anything like the number of 7th century temples as Sambor Prei Kuk so if it wasn’t an imperial capital, why was it so much larger with far more impressive structures than any other city in the region at that time? (2)

Jayavarman I is recorded as having acceded to the throne around 657 and appears to have further expanded Chenla’s control with the construction of the large settlement of Muang Si Mahosot in Thailand’s present-day Prachinburi Province. Like many ancient towns and cities in central Thailand, the site began life as a Dvaravati settlement – albeit within Funan’s sphere of influence – before control passed to Chenla and the Khmers.

The Dark Ages

Jayavarman I died around 680 CE after which Chenla’s fortunes seem to have taken a turn for the worse, A prolonged period of both internal and external conflict appears to have occurred with records and information being even thinner on the ground than before. The entirety of the subsequent 100 years is often described as the Dark Ages of Khmer history.

Standard historical accounts, drawn mainly from contemporary Chinese records, describe a division of Chenla into two parts named ‘Water Chenla’ and ‘Land Chenla’, or Lower, (southern) and Upper (northern) Chenla. This implies civil strife, presumably for succession in the wake of Jayavarman I, while externally this period coincided with growing pressure from Srivijaya to the south and Champa to the east. However, no historian has yet, conclusively determined what and where either of these two theoretical Chenla’s were. Logically, southern or Water Chenla would have included the Mekong Delta and southern reaches of Cambodia with Land Chenla the area north from the Tonle Sap to the Dandreks.

Several significant 8th century settlements, (possibly functioning as capitals of northern Chenla) are recorded in inscriptions from this time, notably Purandarapura and Aninditapura in the region west of Siem Reap Town, but despite numerous temple sites from this period existing in the area, neither has been conclusively located. An inscribed stele, dated to the early 8th century and mentioning a Queen Jayadevi, was found at Ak Yum Temple, an early pyramid-style sanctuary on the edge of Siem Reap’s Western Baray. Jayadevi was either the daughter or widow of Jayavarman I, (you guessed it, historians can’t agree) and Ak Yum is probably the best candidate for her, and indeed her father’s/husband’s, royal temple. (3) In any case Chenla influence and territory was undoubtedly much curtailed during this period although Hindu temples continued to be constructed. (The unique 8th century architectural style is known as Kampong Preah with the eponymous Prasat Kampong Preah or Siem Reap’s Prasat Trapeang Run among many well-preserved examples.)

It wasn’t until the latter part of the 8th century and the arrival on the scene of Jayavarman II that Chenla’s fortunes improved. (4) He seems to have spent the last 2 decades of the century reuniting the fractured kingdom through military campaigns and a series of strategic alliances, including a marriage to the influential queen of Sambhupura, and founded a series of new capitals, also in the vicinity of Siem Reap. (5) These were located at present-day Rolous, followed by Mahendraparvata on Phnom Kulen before returning to Rolous a second time and establishing the city of Hariharalaya which was to remain the capital of a unified Chenla for the next 100 years. A famous ceremony conducted at Prasat Rong Chen on Kulen in 802, in which he declared the country free of the ‘Javanese’, (i.e. the Srivijayans and/or Saliendrans) and, in modest fashion, proclaimed himself as Lord of the Universe or Universal God-king, is generally considered to mark the end of Chenla and beginning of the Angkor period.

This historical division, lacking any dynastic, geographical or ethnic justifications seems at best spurious and to all intents and purposes Angkor was a direct continuation of Chenla. Other periods of civil strife and civil war were to arise, notably in the first half of the 10th century with the creation of two parallel capitals, while other kings such as Rajendravarman II reunited fractured kingdoms without incurring any consequential name changes so why single out Jayavarman II? Consequently, the ruler confusingly appears on king lists as both the last king of the Chenla period and first king of the Angkor period.

While the Angkor civilisation flourished for another 500 years, (it reached its apogee in the late 12th, early 13th centuries, before the final abandonment of its capital occurred in the 15th), standard Khmer history marks 802 as the end of the so-called Chenla period.

As we have maintained, while there were distinct historical divides between Chenla and its precursor Funan, this isn’t the case between Chenla and Angkor so, the scant history there is on the subject, does Chenla a major disservice.

On our Cambodia tours you’ll see period artefacts in both Siem Reap’s Angkor Museum and Phnom Penh’s National Museum while a walking tour of the forested ruins of the former capital and UNESCO-listed Sambor Prei Kuk features on our Beyond Angkor Tour. The aforementioned Prasat Kampong Preah also makes a picturesque and popular stop on the return drive from Battambang to Phnom Penh on our Cambodia Overland and Cambodia and Vietnam tours. Finally, a stop at Phnom Hanchei is included in our south Laos tour, as a break on the drive from Kratie to Phnom Penh.

(1) This is partly due to accessibility and while Victorian amateur archaeologists flocked to Egypt or Mesopotamia and Indiana Jones-style explorers discovered Mayan or Incan cities unexplored Southeast Asia was left to a handful of heavily-bearded Frenchmen who remain stubbornly unknown outside of their homeland.

(2) The early 7th century architectural/art style is categorised as the Sambor Prei Kuk period with temples and artefacts from the latter part of the century named Prei Khmeng style. Numerous, still standing examples from both periods can be found widely scattered across Cambodia and eastern Thailand.

(3) The early 8th century Jayadevi is the only queen to feature on the Chenla and Angkor monarch list.

(4) Jayavarman was a popular royal title throughout the Chenla and Angkor periods and is a Sanskrit word meaning protector of, or shield of, victory – or words to that effect.

(5) Sambhupura was an important Khmer city state situated on the east bank of the Mekong in present-day Kratie Province.