Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v1.c7.s2: Chapter II. The Chams and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Champa

Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champā; Vol. II: Suvarṇadvīpa) v1.c7.s2

Language: English

Chapter II. The Chams and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Champa

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The country which developed later into the kingdom of Champā was originally inhabited by two classes of people, (1) the Chams, and (2) the savages. The distinction was mainly a cultural one, for ethnographically they both belonged to the same Austronesian race.¹ The Chams looked down upon the savages and called them by the general names of the Mlecchas and the Kirātas, in addition to various local names, such as the Vylas of Phanrang, Randaiy of Nha Trang, and the Mada of Binh Dinh.

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¹ As usual there is a wide divergence of views in this respect, but the general consensus of opinion is in favour of the view mentioned above. The old language of the Chams, as preserved in ancient inscriptions, which by the way does not materially differ from the modern, as well as their physical features, described by the Chinese, lend support to this view. Their manners and customs also point in the same direction.

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The Chinese historians have left very interesting accounts of the physical features and the manners and customs of the Chams. They had black skin, deep sunken eyes, snub-noses, and woolly hair. Their dress consisted of a piece of cotton cloth which covered their body from waist to the feet. Neither men nor women put on any other cloth save that in winter they used a kind of thick robe. The ordinary people went bare-footed, but the nobles used shoes made of skin. Both the male and the female tied the hair into various forms of knots and perforated the ears for putting on rings or other ornaments. The people loved cleanliness. They bathed and washed several times every day and rubbed their body with camphor and musk.

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Their clothes were perfumed with the vapour of a large number of fragrant woods.¹ Lin-yi-ki, a Chinese text composed about the close of the 5th century A. D., describes the people of Tan-eul as follows: "The people love to walk bare-footed and wear large ear-rings. Although the boys and girls have untidy naked bodies, they do not consider it a shame. In summer they cover their body with earth and expose it to the sun. Naturally their skin becomes black. For a long time this practice has been a general one and black is regarded as elegant."²

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¹ This description is collected by Maspero from the accounts of several Chinese authors, belonging to different periods (Toung Pao. 1910 p. 174). But as all these Chinese writers belonged to a period when the Chams had come under the influence of the Indian colonists, it is difficult to decide how for the manners and customs described by them were original or due to the Indian influence.

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² B. E. F. vol. IV, No. 9, p. 15.

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It appears that the population consisted of some Chinese elements, though these were ultimately absorbed by the Chams or rather the Indianised Chams. For, in the same Chinese text, Lin-yi-ki, we find the following description of the people of Kiu-sou, a fortified stronghold of Champā, about 70 miles from the capital.

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"The inhabitants descended from the Chinese exiles (255-206 B. C.) have been corrupted by coming into contact with the indigenous elements, and the ancient manners and customs of Je-nan have been completely transformed."³

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³ Ibid, p. 13.

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Very little is known of the early history of the Chams. The Annamites have preserved in their Annals some legends about it, but they are of little historical value. One of them runs as follows:—

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“In ancient times there was a kingdom, beyond the frontiers of Annam, called Dieu-nghiem. The king of this country was called the king of demons or Daśānana (having ten faces). To the north of this kingdom was the country of Ho Ton Tinh whose king was Daśaratha. The son of Daśaratha called Chung-tu had a beautiful wife. King Daśānana, being enamoured of her beauty, conquered the country of Ho Ton Tinh and brought away the princess. Prince Chung-tu, however, gathered a troop of Monkeys who bridged the ocean with mountains, and brought back his wife after defeating and killing Daśānana.”

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After describing the above story the Annamite Annals conclude: “The Chams are the descendants of the nation called Ho Ton Tinh.” The story is, on the face of it, simply a localisation of the events of Rāmāyaṇa in Champa, and no historical conclusion can be drawn from it.

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The earliest reliable information about the Chams is obtained from the Chinese sources. But in order to understand properly the relations between the two nations we must go back a little to the past history.

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In the middle of the third century before Christ China was divided into a large number of small kingdoms. To the south and south-east of it, beyond the Nanling mountains, lived a large number of independent tribes who were generally designated as Yue, and who occupied not only Tonkin and the northern portion of Annam as far as Quang Nam, but also the present Chinese districts named Kouang-Si, Kouang-Tong, Fou-kien and Tcho-kiang (only the southern half).

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In 221 B.C. Che-houang-ti, of the Tsin Dynasty (225 B. C.-206 B.C.) brought the whole of China under his control and established a united empire. After having properly organised the administration of his vast territories he turned his attention to the conquest of the Yue tribes. By 214 B.C.¹ the vast territories were conquered and divided for the purpose of administration into several provinces. The whole of Tonkin and northern Annam was included in the province of Siang, while the rest was divided into three other provinces. After the death of Che-houang-ti in 210 B.C. anarchy and confusion prevailed in China, taking advantage of which the governor of one of these three provinces established an independent kingdom called Nan-yue. It had its capital at Canton and comprised the modern Chinese districts of Kouang-si and Kouang-Tong. The province of Siang was soon conquered by the king of Nan-yue and was divided for administrative purposes into two provinces of Kiao-tche (Tonkin) and Kieou-tchen (the region of Than Hoa and the Chinese territory in Annam) with capitals respectively at Hanoi and Than-hoa.

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¹ Maspero wrongly puts the events at 3 B. C. [T'oung Pao 1910, p. 322] probably a mistake for III B. C., but even this date is not that of the original conquest but of the later conquest by the Hans.

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In the meantime the Han Dynasty was established in China. In the year 196 B.C. the Han Emperors officially recognised the kingdom of Nan-yue and its king agreed to rule as a vassal king. In the year 183 B.C., however, he revolted and assumed the title of the Emperor of Nan-yue. He died in 137 B. C. and was succeeded by feeble rulers. The Han Emperor sent a military expedition against the kingdom in 112 B. C. and it was wholly conquered in a year.

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The Han Emperors made a new arrangement of administrative units. The territories comprising Tonkin and all the southern conquests in Annam which were included in the province of Siang under the Tsin Emperors, and out of which two provinces (Kiao-tche, and Kieou-tchen) were made by the king of Nan-yue, were now divided into three provinces viz., Kiao-tche, Kieou-tchen and Je-nan. In other words, Je-nan corresponded to the southern districts of Siang¹. Je-nan was divided into five districts, the two southernmost of which had their head-quarters at Siang-lin and Si-Kuan.

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¹ (1.) This rapid survey of the relations between China and Annam is based on the admirable article of L. Aurousseau (B. E. F. Vol. XXIII, pp. 137 ff., cf. specially pp. 152 ff, 216 ff, 223 ff. 232 ff. and 263 ff )

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The question of the exact limits of Je-Nan has long perplexed the scholars. But it may now be regarded as having been fixed with a fair degree of certainty. Pelliot has shown from a passage in Tsin Chou that the northern boundary of Je-nan was the Heng-Chan, now called Hoan-Sonh mountain, a chain which advances towards the sea between Ha Tinh and Quang Binh.² As to the southern boundary, M. Aurousseau has drawn attention to a passage in Heou Han Chou according to which the two provinces of Kieou-tchen and Je-nan were situated respectively at a distance of 11,580 and 13,400 li from Lo Yang. It would follow, therefore, that Je-nan was nearly 1820 li to the south of Kieou-tchen. As this latter has been definitey identified with Than-hoa, it follows that Je-nan extended at least 250 miles further south; in other words it must have extended beyond the province of Binh Dinh in the south. This is corroborated by an Annamite Geographical text which fixes the southern boundary of Je-Nan at the mountain chain which terminates in cape Varella. Thus the ancient Je-Nan may be regarded as that part of modern Annam which lies between the Porte d' Annam and Cape Varella.³

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² (2.) B. E. F. Vol. IV, p. 190

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³ (3.) Ibid Vol. XIV, No 9, p. 24.

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We thus find that since 214 B. C., the whole of Tonkin, and Annam as far as Cape Varella, passed under the supremacy of the Chinese. The people who lived in Tonkin and northern Annam were undoubtedly the Annamites who were destined to rise to great power in a later period and give their name to the southern part of the Chinese possessions. They belonged ethnographically to the vast Yue race that occupied the territory south of Nan-ling which was first conquered by the Tsin Emperor Che-houang-ti between 221 and 214 B.C. A large part of this Yue race was ultimately absorbed by the Chinese, but those of Tonkin and northern Annam retained their individuality, and, after centuries of Chinese subjugation, ultimately formed themselves into a powerful nation, as we shall see later on. The Annamites, however, did not as yet extend beyond the "Col de Nuages" in the district of Quang Nam. To the south of it lived the indigenous savage population. But already in the first century A. D. we find a new element, the Chams, firmly established in sufficiently large number as far north as Quang Nam. At what date the Chams pushed so far north as Quang Nam we are unable to say, but we shall not probably be far wrong, if we hold that at the time when the Han Emperor had divided the vast territories between the frontier of Kouang-Si and cape Varella into the three provinces of Kiao-tche, Kieou-tchen and Je-Nan, the first two were peopled by the Annamites and the third by the Chams. The primitive savages of Tonkin and Annam, pushed by the Annamites from the north and the Chams from the south, were gradually moving towards the high mountains as their last refuge.

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To the south of cape Varella, in the districts of Khan Hoa and Binh Thuan, lived a small group of independent Chams who constantly harassed the southern frontier of the Chinese possessions. They must have been encouraged in their incursions by the tacit sympathy of the population—their own kinsmen—who were placed under the yoke of the Chinese. As we shall see later on, the headquarters of the southernmost Chinese district were placed in Quang Nam. The Chinese control over the districts of Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh and Phu Yen were probably more nominal than real, and the country, being full of narrow valleys and thick impenetrable jungles, tempted the Chams to plunder and devastate the Chinese possessions. The Chinese historians have described these Chams as savages who were ignorant of the art of cultivation and lived upon hunting alone. They frequently invaded the residences of the Chinese officials and plunder, murder and devastation accompanied these raids. As soon, however, as the Chinese troops came to chastise them they fled and took shelter in the impenetrable forests.

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The Cham incursions sometimes took a fairly serious turn. We learn from the Chinese history that in the year 137 A. D., about 10,000 Kiu-lien, a barbarous tribe from beyond the frontier of their territories, attacked their southernmost districts, destroyed the Chinese forts and ravaged the whole country. The governor Fan-Yen raised ten thousand soldiers, but they were unwilling to undertake such a distant expedition and broke into revolt. Taking advantage of this respite, the Kiu-lien pushed their conquests further north, defeated the Chinese troops that opposed them, and occupied some of the Chinese districts. The Chinese emperor was inclined to send a military expedition against the intruders, but one of his ministers pointed out the futility of such a distant expedition, and advised his royal master to rely upon diplomacy. Accordingly Tchou Leang was sent to treat with them and the Kiu-lien were induced to evacuate the conquered territory in 138 A. D. There is no doubt that the Kiu-lien denoted the Chams¹ who thus seem to have possessed great military skill and organisation, as early as the second century A. D.

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¹ Ibid p. 28.

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But the death-blow to the Chinese authority came from within. The Cham inhabitants of Siang-lin were particularly turbulent and now and then broke into open rebellion. In 100 A. D. nearly 2000 of them revolted and attacked the Chinese possessions in the north. They killed many officials and destroyed many villages, but retraced their steps as soon as the Chinese forces arrived. In course of time they grew bolder, and, about 192 A. D., taking advantage of the troubles of the Han dynasty, a native of Siang-lin, named Lien, son of Kong tsa'o, and belonging to the family called Kiu, killed the officer in-charge of the city and proclaimed himself king in Lin-yi. As the term Lin-yi has been used by the Chinese throughout in later periods to denote the kingdom of Champā, we may trace in the successful revolt of Kiu Lien the foundation of that kingdom, at first in Siang-lin but ultimately destined to cover nearly the whole of Annam, south of Tonkin.²

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² Maspero doubtfully accepted the hypothesis that the kingdom of Kiu Lien is that of Champa, but M. Aurousseau has quoted definite evidence on this point from Chinese texts [B. E. F. vol. XIV, No 9, pp. 26-27]. As to the origin of the name Lin-yi, M. Aurousseau suggests that the Cham kingdom having been originally established in Siang-lin, the Chinese called it Lin-yi ie. capital Lin [of Siang]. "Lin-yi" which was thus the first Chinese name of the first Cham capital was ultimately extended by a natural process to denote the whole of the ancient kingdom of Champa [Ibid].

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The identification of the city of Lin-yi (Siang-lin) has long baffled the scholars. But M. Aurousseau seems to have successfully demonstrated that Siang-lin is now represented by Tra-kieu, a little to the south of Quang Nam.¹ It would thus appear that the first Cham kingdom was established in Quang-Nam and this explains the presence of two such magnificent groups of temples at Myson and Dong-Duong in the neighbourhood.

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¹ B. E. F vol. XIV. No. 9, p. 23 ff.

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We find a beautiful description of the topography of Champa in a Chinese text called Chouei King Tchou composed in 527 A. D.

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The city was about 40 li (about 6½ miles) from the sea-coast and was at a distance of 2,500 li (about 400 miles) from the tcheou of Kouang. At the south-west angle of the ramparts of the city were high mountains and a long chain of hills which served as a natural embankment. Quite close to the north of the hills flowed a river. To the south of the hills, at a little distance was another river which joined the former to the east of the city.

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The city was surrounded by a wall about a mile and a half in circumference. On a brick wall about 20 feet high was raised a second brick wall of half that height, pierced by square loop-holes. On the walls were placed wooden boards supporting many-storied pavillions, on the roof of which again arose towers varying in height from 40 to 70 feet. The first impression that these structures gave was that of an owl, which, with its tail turned towards the wind and touching the mountains and the clouds, was looking towards the water, but would soon, by a leisurely flight, ascend to the highest peak of the mountains. The architecture was admirable but showed lack of skill.

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‘ There were four gates in the walls. The main gate was on the east. It opened near two islands in the river Houai. The western gate opened on a double ditch which turned to the north and reached a hill. The southern gate likewise opened on a double ditch. The northern gate opened on the river Houai but the route was closed.

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‘ Within the walls were a small enclosure, assembly rooms and brick palaces the walls of which had no opening to the south.

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‘ There was a palace, opening to the east, of which the loose pieces supporting the rafter looked like the tail of an owl. The gates were sculptured in open-work and painted in blue, the passages were coated with red varnish and the rafters were adorned with stone. There were other rafters, rectangular or round, all being carved in old style. On the pavillions and the palaces were columns rising to a height of 15 feet above the ramparts. The walls were besmeared with cowdung which gave them a green and brilliant look. There were eight temples of varying degrees of importance, and also temples for worshipping the spirits. The storeyed terraces and the belvederes looked like Buddhist monuments.¹

Linked texts (1)

Vālmīkirāmāyaṇa — Vālmīki, Sanskrit