Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v1.c7.s3.41

v1.c7.s3.41

The death of Fan Chen Tch'eng was followed by a troublesome period. Taking advantage of this a man called Fan Tang-Ken-Tch'ouen or Kieou Tch'eou Lo usurped the kingdom. He was the son of Jayavarman king of Fou-Nan. He had committed some crime in his country, and, fleeing from the wrath of his royal father, took refuge in Champā. King Jayavarman could ill brook the success of his son in the foreign land. He sent the Bhikṣu Śākya Nāgasena to the Chinese Emperor in order to complain against the usurper and ask the aid of imperial troops to punish him. The long letter which Jayavarman addressed to the Chinese emperor on this occasion, explaining the measures he proposed to adopt for driving his son out of Champā, is a very interesting reading.¹ It shows that the Chinese emperor was tacitly looked upon as the sovereign authority by all the states in the Far East, and whatever the amount of actual control possessed by him, he never ceased to exercise a political influence upon them all. Jayavarman's endeavour, however, bore no fruit. The Chinese emperor received the embassy cordially and gave a very courteous reply, but he did not agree to meddle in the affairs of Champā. On the other hand the emperor recognised the usurper as the king of Champā and gave him high sounding honorary titles² by an Imperial Decree in 491 A.D. But the usurper was defeated and dethroned immediately after by Fan Tchou-Nong, great-grandson of Fan Yan Mai II. Fan Tchou-Nong was recognised by the Chinese emperor in 492 A.D., and received honorary titles like his predecessor¹, but his reign was short, and he died in 498 A.D., being drowned in the sea during a pleasure trip, or, according to some authorities, in course of a voyage to China. He sent ambassadors to the Chinese court in 492 and 495 A.D. Tchou-Nong was succeeded by his son, grandson and great-grandson, named respectively Fan Wen K'ouan or Fan Wen Ts'an, Fan T'ien K'ai (Devavarman?), and Vijayavarman. We do not know anything about them except that they sent embassies to China and received the same honorary titles from the emperor as their predecessors. The embassy of 502 A. D. was probably sent by Fan Wen K'ouan. Devavarman's embassies were dated 510, 512 and 514 A.D. Vijayavarman sent two embassies in 526 and 527 A.D.