Funan
Funan (also Fu Nan ), originated in the 1st century AD , was the first larger state - or rather an association of several city-states - in Southeast Asia . Historically, Funan is particularly important as the forerunner of the later Khmer kingdom of Angkor and because Funan was the first ( Indianized ) country in the region that was strongly influenced by Indian culture and religion .
Little is known about Funan today. Most of the information available comes from Chinese chronicles, archaeological finds, and inscriptions written entirely in Sanskrit. The name itself comes from Chinese records, which name the inhabitants used is not known. The two characters Fu and Nan are probably transcriptions of the old Khmer syllables Biu and Nam from which today's Phnom developed, the word for 'mountain'. According to another thesis, Biu-Nam could also stand for the name of the Hindu god Brahma or go back to Brahmanas . Today, most of the brick-built structures are all that can be found. The oldest works of art, including around 2 m high sculptures of the Hindu god Vishnu and images of Buddha , date from the early 6th century.
The idea of Funan as a unified, great empire, implied by the Chinese chronicles, is now considered obsolete. In fact, it was more like a loose network of city-states and small principalities.
geography
The center of the network lay in the area of the Mekong Delta in what is now southern Vietnam , while the area of influence extends at times in the west to the borders of today's Myanmar and in the south to the Isthmus of Kra (today southern Thailand ). Important sites of the Funan culture can be found in the historic port city of Oc Eo (Mekong Delta, Vietnam), in Angkor Borei ( Takeo Province ) and at the foot of Ba Phnom ( Prey Veng Province , both in southern Cambodia). A capital named Vyadharapura ("City of Hunters") is mentioned in inscriptions, but its location has not yet been established. Some researchers suspect it to be in the region of what is now Phnom Penh ( Cambodia ).
population
The inhabitants of Funan were, as far as archaeologists and historians could determine so far, members of the Mon-Khmer peoples and used a language from the Austro-Asian language family. They are considered to be the ancestors of the Khmer , the current state people of Cambodia.
They lived largely from fishing and rice cultivation and lived on stilt houses comparable to those that can still be found today in all of Southeast Asia. The fertile alluvial land along the rivers was drained with extensive canal systems and prepared for agricultural use.
history
Funan originated in the 1st century AD. According to a legend recorded in the Chinese Liang chronicles, an Indian Brahmin named Kaundinya ( Chinese Hun Tien ) once defeated the Queen of Funan, Soma ( Chinese Liu Yeh , "willow leaf") at a battle at sea by piercing their ship with an arrow. The queen surrendered, they married and founded the dynasty of the rulers of Funan. According to Khmer mythology, Soma's father, a king of the Nagas , rose from the water and drank the sea until new land emerged - what is now the central plain of Cambodia around Lake Tonle Sap to the mouth of the Mekong - which he owned Son-in-law gave.
Regardless of the truthfulness of these legends, it is clear that in the early 1st millennium, Indian culture and religion gained strong influence in Southeast Asia. Funan was the first country in the region to be sustainably indexed. The residents did not give their own beliefs on, but rather took over individual elements of Hinduism such as the worship of Shiva , and the Mahayana - Buddhism and mixed it with their own rites and traditions.
Funan was an important stop on the trade routes of the ships between China in the north and India in the west. In Oc Eo , the largest port city of Funan, which the French archaeologist Louis Malleret from the École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO) first explored in the 1940s until the beginning of the Second World War , objects from the great Asian cultures of the time were displayed even coins from the Roman Empire , showing the profile of the Emperor Antoninus Pius , and from the ancient Persian Empire of the Sassanids were found.
“According to the trip report of Alexandros given by Ptolemaios, Kattigara can actually only be on the Mekong Delta, because Alexandros first drove north along the east coast of the Malacca peninsula to Bangkok, from there also along the coast only to the southeast until he came to Kattigara. We hear nothing of a further change of course (Ptolemy 1:14). It is fitting that in an emporium excavated in the western Mekong Delta, Oc Eo in the old Fou-nan Empire, Roman finds from the 2nd century NC came to light. "
The port of Oc Eo and the canals created in the Mekong estuary also served as anchorage for merchant ships to wait for the monsoon winds to change. This contributed to the fact that Funan came into close contact with the cultures of the Chinese, Indian and probably also Malay and Javanese guests. From the 3rd century onwards, Indian immigrants increasingly settled in Funan, which further consolidated the influence of Indian culture.
Also in the early 3rd century, Funan reached its greatest extent under the rule of King Fan Shih-man. His fleet controlled the coasts from the Mekong Delta across the entire arch of the Gulf of Thailand to the Isthmus of Kra (today southern Thailand ). On the mainland, the area of influence extended over today's Cambodia to the borders of Myanmar . Funan established a strong system of trade routes and trade monopolies, which also became the model for later empires in the region. At the same time, both the fleet and the administrative system were strengthened, whereby the regions far from the central area on the Mekong were under Funan's rule, but were able to retain their cultural independence. Taxes were paid in silver, gold, pearls, and fragrance woods. In the middle of the 3rd century, the two Chinese traders Kang Tai and Zhu Ying visited the capital of Funan and wrote a report on the country on their return. Your description of Funan's culture is in part unflattering. They report that slaves were traded in Funan and that court proceedings were often decided by the accused having to submit to an examination; For example, by wearing a red-hot iron chain over a certain distance or having to fetch a gold ring or an egg from boiling water. However, they also notice the wealth of the country and are impressed by the extensive libraries across the country. The Chinese "History of the Three Kingdoms" tells of musicians from Funan who were presented to the emperor in 243 or 263. The ruler was so impressed that he set up his own institute for Funan's music near Nanjing .
Around the year 270, Funan fought a war in the Chinese province of Tongking (today the northernmost region of Vietnam ) together with the northern kingdom of the Cham . In 357, according to Chinese sources, Funan became a tributary vassal state of the Chinese Empire. However, according to many historians, Chinese chroniclers used the term “tribute” for actually mutual trade relations in order to represent and embellish the power of their emperors.
At the beginning of the 5th century, King Kaundinya, who took his name from the legendary founder of the ruling dynasty, elevated Shaivism to the state religion. He introduced the Shaka calendar from India in Funan, made Sanskrit the official language, and hired Indians as civil servants. From this king comes the tradition that the rulers of the Khmer give their royal name the suffix -varman , which later all kings of Angkor continued. Varman refers to a breastplate, as an addition to the name it means "protected by" . For example, the ruler's name Indravarman means: "protected by (the god) Indra" .
Funan reached a final cultural and political high point under the kings Kaundinya Jayavarman (ruled approx. 480 to 514) and his son Rudravarman (ruled 514 to approx. 545). Both continued the state cult around Shiva , but were themselves followers of Mahâyâna - Buddhism .
From the second half of the 6th century, Funan increasingly lost its power and influence. In 550, Chenla (also Zhenla), a Funan previously subordinate empire in the north of its area of influence (the original focus was probably in what is now South Laos ), gained its independence. In the early 7th century, Zhenla finally took over the leading role and Funan presumably went into the new empire. In any case, Funan is no longer mentioned in Chinese records after the 6th century, Zhenla is more and more common.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ MK Sharan: Studies in Sanskrit Inscriptions of Ancient Cambodia. Abhinav Publications, New Delhi 2003, p. 7.
- ↑ a b Victor Lieberman: Strange Parallels. Southeast Asia in Global Context, c. 800-1830. Volume 1, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003, p. 217.
- ↑ a b Martin H. Petrich: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Temples, monasteries and pagodas in the countries on the Mekong. DuMont, Cologne 2004, p. 223.
- ↑ Michael Vickery, "Funan reviewed: Deconstructing the Ancients," Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême Orient XC-XCI (2003-2004), pp. 101-143
- ^ G. Coedès, Les états hindouisés d'Indochine et d'Indonésie, Paris, 1947, 38 u. 681; ibid. 71 on the location of Kattigara; cited in Albrecht Dihle, Controversial Data: Investigations on the Occurrence of Greeks on the Red Sea, Cologne and Opladen, Westdeutsch Verlag, 1964, p. 30.
- ^ 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. 17.
- ↑ Petrich: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. 2004, p. 225.