King Rudravarman (514-550) and the Birth of the Sri Vijaya
He was the son of Kaudinya Jayavarman who, as mentioned in the Chinese texts, rose up to take on the Prey-Nokor throne after killing the legitimate heir, Gunavarman.
« The son of a concubine, Liou-To-Pa-mo. killed his eldest brother, son of the legitimate queen, and ascended himself the throne.
(Funan: P. 270) »
The passage indicates that Rudravarman (Liou-To-Pa-mo) killed his brother Gunavarman and took the throne for himself. Jaya Kaundinya refused to recognize him as his heir because perhaps his mother was only a cucumbine and requested the Chinese court for interference. Many Khmer inscriptions confirm his ascension to both the throne of Prey-Nokor at Champapura and the Kambojan throne at Ba-Phnom. An inscription at Tonle (river) Bati attests his reign around the sixth century at the Kambojan throne and indicates that he was a fervent Buddhist. Obviously after Kaundinya Jayavarman's death, Rudravarman came to claim the Khmer throne of Vyadhapura. Before then, he already took hold of Prey-Nokor throne without his father's consent. Despite his low status as heir inheriting the khmer throne, Rudravarman had nonetheless strong connection with this ancient line of Mang-Sui-Ti's descendants of Ashoka . A Chinese text refers him by the title of Mang-Sui-Ti as a ruler of the Kun-Lun (Kambu Nagā) Kingdom (The Chenla Empire: The Chenla's Brotherhood: Funan before its Fall). Looking back, the Ashoka's grandson Mang-Sui-Ti had left extensive heritage through the work of his sons for Buddhist expansion in China (Sakadvipa: The Saka of Daya Desa: The Mauryan Expansion). The Sui dynasty might have been descended from one of the royal houses formed by one of them in China. On the other hand, we had seen that Mang-Siu-Ti (or Ti-Mong-Tsiu) himself had also established his own legacy in the Khmer court of Prey-Nokor. In addition, an inscription of Champapura mentioned about one of his ancestors named Gangaraja making a pilgrimage to the shore of the Gange River. Rudravarman received the investiture from the Sui court of China as king of Champa in 530 and sent an embassy to China in 534. This close connection with the Chinese court of the Sui Dynasty allowed Rudravarman to stay on the throne of Prey-Nokor despite the objection of the rest of the Khmer court. Judging from the fact that Jaya Kaundinya was fighting against the Koshans to take full control of Southeast Asia, the support of the Sui for Rudravarman is understandable. Inscriptions found at Champapura attest the formation of a dynasty that began at Champa about 529, a dynasty that reigned for a little over a century. The founder was Rudravarman with the same coronation name as the next king of Vyadhapura. We shall see that the Sui Dynasty did not only ignoring the unrest due to the usurpation but gave support to Rudravarman all along during the next events of the Chenla uprising to come. Rudravarman who was a strong patron of Mahayana Buddhism, continued to establish the cultural connection between China and Funan. He sent various embassies to China between 517 and 539 and was recorded as the last king of Funan. The history of the Liang states that a Chinese embassy was sent to Funan between 535 and 545 to request Buddhist texts and Buddhist teachers to China. Rudravarman sent the Indian Paramartha or Gunaratha of Ujjayini, who was then living in Funan for the mission. He arrived in China in 546, bringing 240 bundles of texts with him. According to the history of the Sui, the Siu Kao seng tchouan, Buddhist texts in Kun-Lun (Kambunaga pali) scripture had been collected during a Chinese raid and brought to China.
« In 605 when the Chinese general Liou Fang took the capital of Lin-Yi (Prey-Nokor) it reported to 1350 Buddhist works forming 564 volumes, and all are written in Kun-Lun Scripture. (BEFEO IV: Deux itinaraires de Chine en Inde I: Page 220, Paul Pelliot) »
The attack that was conducted against the Champa court of Prey-Nokor, was presumably the attempt of the Sui Dynasty to salvage Buddhism from destruction. It was the proof of interference from the Chinese court during the uprising of the Chenla Empire, in support of the fallen court of Rudravarman. With the deep root from king Ashoka's lineage in Southeast Asia, Rudravarman carried on the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and instated the God King Paramesvara along the Sri Vijayan Line of his descendants. Under the protection of the God King Paramesvara, we shall see that the Khmer Empire was reinstated again due very much to the cooperation of the Water Chenla (The Making of a Cakravatin Empire: The Deva Dynasty: Jayavarman II). Unfortunately, the unification process did not happen before the complete break-off of the Funan Empire by the Chenla uprising.
Of the two brothers who claim themselves as a legitimate descendant of the Nagi Soma line
Mon and the Kun-Lun Language (Kamara Nagā)
Looking closely, the inscriptions of the old Mon Language that were dated from the Dvaravati era used the same scripture in Khmer inscription of Han-Chey that was known as the ancient Khmer scripture. On the other hand, we had seen that the old Mon Language was in fact a derivative of the Kamara (Kun-Lun) language under the influence of the Kamboj legacy of Kaundinya1 from the 1st century . another prescursor of both the modern Khmer and Mon cultures (Prehistory: The Hoabinhian Culture: The Language Factor).
