Ancient Indian Colonization in South-East Asia c9.81

c9.81

In spite of all his precautions, the death of Sūrya-varman was followed by a series of revolts ending in a civil war and partition of the kingdom. But Sūryavarman II, who ascended the throne in 1113 A.D., once more reunited the kingdom. The inscriptions of Kambuja refer in rapturous terms to the victories of Sūrya-varman and his triumphs over hostile kings, but do not give any details. We know from other sources that he invaded Annam both by land and sea, but could not achieve any success. He also invaded Champā, but in spite of some initial success, his troops met with serious disasters. Still he maintained the empire intact. We learn from Chinese annals that his dominions extended from Champā to Lower Burma and included the northern part of Malay Peninsula up to the Bay of Bandon. He is said to have maintained 200,000 war elephants.