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The Pre-Angkorian era

The Fu-Nan era


The kingdom of Fu-Nan, also named Nokor Phnom, was located southwest of the Kingdom of Champa and stretched all the way to the Malay Peninsula.

George Coedes wrote, In the 2nd Century, Fu-Nan’s conquests extended all the way to the Malay Peninsula to form a sort of empire ruled by a sovereign considered to be a universal monarch and referred to by the dynastic title of ‘king of the mountain’. This region was influenced by Indian civilization, probably as early as the beginning of the Christian era. This influence expressed itself through Brahmanism and Buddhism. Numerous works of art from the Fu-Nan era attest to the presence of these two major religious trends.

One of the capital cities of Nokor Phnom was probably located in the Ba Phnom region, present-day Prey Veng province. It is identified with ‘Vyádhapura’, the City of the Hunters, which the Chinese named ‘To-mou’. The capital was later transferred to Angkor Borei, Takeo province, and renamed ‘Na-fu-na’ by the Chinese. The ‘Asiam Mahá Rsí’ temple remains, as evidence of the greatness of this capital city.

The site of Oc-éo, now on South Vietnamese soil, in the west of the Camau peninsula, was once the great sea port of Fu-Nan.

The art of the Fu-Nan era is now known as the Phnom Da style.

Legend has it that a local princess, Princess Lieou-Ye, also known as Somá, married Brahman Kaundinya from India and thus founde4de the dynasty that would rule over the kingdom of Fu-Nan until the 6th century. Indeed, in 550, a new name emerges in the Chinese records, Tchen-la (now spelt Zhenla) which will be used to designate Cambodia.

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