Chenla

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Chenla around 600 AD

Chenla ( Chinese  真腊 , Pinyin Zhenla ) was up early 8th century of 6 existing association of states in Southeast Asia , predominantly in what is now Cambodia , southern Laos and northeast - Thailand was and the Khmer -Reich of Angkor preceded it.

Chenla or Zhenla is a Chinese foreign name for this state, the self-name has not been passed down. Inscriptions found on site only use the names of the individual city-states, such as Bhavapura or Isanapura (probably identical to the site of Sambor Prei Kuk ).

history

The earliest mentions of Chenla can be found in Chinese chronicles. In the Sui Shu an embassy from Chenla to the Chinese court is documented for the year 616 or 617. Today's research indicates, however, that Chenla was not a state united under a single crown, but rather several principalities, each with a different level of power and territorial extent, whose titles were not hereditary. It can be described in the terminology of various historians specializing in Southeast Asia as mandala (s) , i.e. as a system (s) of several interdependent states without fixed borders. However, it was a little more centralized and stabilized than its predecessor Funan , which one has to imagine as a loose association of city-states. The Chenla states emerged from the 6th century, partly in connection with or through a split from Funan. The more important principalities were north and south of the Dongrek Mountains . Funan went up in Chenla in the 6th century. The exact causes, their causality and the circumstances of this event are not exactly clarified.

In addition to the Chinese chronicles, inscriptions handed down from the Chenla period also provide information about the society at that time. These inscriptions usually consist of a part in Sanskrit, in which the ruler or high officials are praised, and a part in Khmer, which describes the actual content of the inscription. They are mostly about foundations or donations and prove that the title of ruler in Chenla conferred not only political but also religious power. The society knew several classes, especially the civil servants, the Brahmins , artisans and field workers; the latter represented the lowest level of the common people and had a status similar to that of slaves. Chenla had no monetary economy, no tax collection, and no personal land ownership. The economic centers were the temples, which today are among the oldest preserved sacred buildings in Cambodia. In contrast to Funan , there was also no long-distance trade. The economy was based almost entirely on agriculture, especially wet rice cultivation, and on the mobilization of labor.

Just as there were several principalities, there were also several political centers. The first capital of Chenla was probably Shrestapura, which is located in what is now the Lao province of Champasak . Isanapura (Sambor Prei Kuk), the center of power for King Isanavarman and the site of the most important preserved religious monuments from the Chenla period, was later built . It is located in what is now the Cambodian province of Kampong Thom .

The people of Chenla worshiped Indian deities, including gods of Shaivism , Vishnuism and Buddhism, and Khmer deities. Indian deities were adopted partly by Indian Brahmins and partly by the Cham . On the other hand, not all of religious life was indexed; Khmer customs, which partly contradicted the Hindu norms, were often continued.

Chenla's first ruler is named Sui Shu She-to-ssu-na in Chinese , who historians equate with King Citrasena Mahendravarman, mentioned in inscriptions in Cambodia and northeastern Thailand. His reign is dated around the year 600. His son Īśānavarman I then probably sent the embassy to China in 616/617. After his death (around 637), first the ruler Bhavavarman II. (Attested for the years 644 and 655) is attested, then Jayavarman I, attested since 657, united almost the entire country; However, this disintegrated again after his death (around 690).

At the beginning of the 8th century (between 706 and 717), according to the Chinese chronicles, Chenla was finally divided into the northern and southern states, known as "Chenla of the country" (陆 真 腊) and "Chenla of the sea" (水真 腊) were handed down. Only Chenla of the country had exchanges with China, which is also known as Wendan (also Wen Dan or Wentan ). The center of the northern part is assumed to be in the northeast of present-day Thailand or in southern Laos (possibly in the Champasak province near the temple district of Wat Phou ), while the coastal region and the area of ​​the Mekong Delta formed the southern part. It is unclear whether this was actually a decisive political split (as the Chinese sources suggest) or rather a geographical description of a group of smaller states. In any case, there is no evidence in the Cambodian inscriptions that there were two unified states or blocs in the 8th century, but actually a multitude of principalities. In 1979 the historian Claude Jacques fundamentally questioned the accuracy of the Chinese chronicles and assumed that "Chenla" - like "Funan" - was not a large empire at all, but only one of many small Cambodian empires or principalities, possibly the most important his time, but that only some princes would have united a larger or smaller number of other principalities under their leadership at certain times. The idea of ​​a unified empire “Funan”, “Chenla”, “Land” or “Water Chenla” is therefore of little use.

Few sources are available for the 8th century. They consist of some inscriptions, including those reporting that a body of sabhā was an instrument of government, as well as messages from Chinese sources about embassies.

See also

literature

  • Karl-Heinz Golzio: History of Cambodia. From Fúnán to Angkor and from Angkor to modernity. EB-Verlag, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-86893-061-0
  • Charles Higham : Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations. Facts on File, New York 2004, pp. 74-77, ISBN 0-8160-4640-9
  • Claude Jacques: 'Funan', 'Zhenla'. The Reality Concealed by These Chinese Views of Indochina. In: Early South East Asia. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1979, pp. 371-379.
  • Dougald JW O'Reilly: Early Civilizations of Southeast Asia. AltaMira Press, Lanham MD / Plymouth 2007, chapter "Pre-Angkorian and Angkorian Polities", pp. 91–127.
  • Emanuel Sarkisyanz : The cultures of continental Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malaya. Handbook of Cultural History, Dept. 2. Academic Publishing Society Athenaion, Wiesbaden 1979

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Golzio, p. 33, p. 38.
  2. ^ O'Reilly: Early Civilizations of Southeast Asia. 2007, p. 125.
  3. ↑ George Michell: The Hindu Temple: Architecture of a World Religion . DuMont, Cologne 1991, ISBN 3-7701-2770-6 , p. 206
  4. ↑ Golzio, p. 39f.
  5. ↑ a b Golzio, p. 44.
  6. ^ A b Martin Stuart-Fox : Historical Dictionary of Laos. 3rd edition, Scarecrow Press, Lanham MD 2008, p. 390, entry "Zhenla".
  7. ^ Charles Higham: The Archeology of Mainland Southeast Asia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1989, p. 267.
  8. ↑ about.com:archaeology: Sambor Prei Kuk (Cambodia) ( Memento of the original from August 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , K. Kris Hirst @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / archaeology.about.com
  9. ^ Sarkisyanz, p. 16.
  10. ↑ Golzio, p. 46f.
  11. ^ Robert L. Brown: The Dvāravatī Wheels of the Law and the Indianization of South East Asia. Brill, Leiden 1996, ISBN 90-04-10435-6 , p. 15.
  12. ↑ Hiram Woodward: Dvāravatī, Si Thep and Wendan. In: Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association , Volume 30, 2010, pp. 87-97.
  13. ^ Brown: The Dvāravatī Wheels of the Law. 1996, pp. 15-16.
  14. ↑ Jacques: 'Funan', 'Zhenla'. 1979, p. 376. Quoted from David Chandler: A History of Cambodia. 4th edition, Westview Press, Boulder CO 2008, p. 33.