Origin 380 to 413 CE
During his reign from around 380 to 413 CE, King Bhadravarman of the Champa kingdom built a wooden temple in a river valley ringed by mountains in what is now Quang Nam province, central Vietnam, and dedicated the entire valley to a linga he named Bhadresvara, a Sanskrit compound of his own name and a title for Shiva. The Cham people had adopted Hinduism from their neighbors in the Funan kingdom, whose Hindu presence in Cambodia is already recorded here, and Bhadravarman's foundation at My Son became the religious and political center the Champa kingdom would continue building on for the next thousand years, well before Rakai Pikatan dedicated the Prambanan temple compound to Shiva in Java, also already recorded here. Bhadravarman's original wooden temple burned in the sixth century and was rebuilt in stone by King Sambhuvarman in the seventh, part of a complex that eventually held more than seventy temples and towers and stands today as one of Southeast Asia's most enduring Hindu Shaiva sites.
Facts
Dates
StatusArrived marks Hinduism's establishment in Champa under King Bhadravarman as a specific, dated milestone distinct from Hinduism's earlier arrival in Cambodia with the Kingdom of Funan already recorded here, and well before Rakai Pikatan's dedication of the Prambanan temple in Java also already recorded here. Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Cambodia directly: "Funan kingdom, whose Hindu presence in Cambodia is already recorded here, and Bhadravarman's foundation at My Son became the religious and political center the Champa kingdom would continue building..."
This source names Prambanan directly: "before Rakai Pikatan dedicated the Prambanan temple compound to Shiva in Java, also already recorded here."
Occurred In
Spread Event Of
Adds a specific, dated milestone in Hinduism's spread through Southeast Asia between its arrival in Cambodia with the Kingdom of Funan and Rakai Pikatan's dedication of the Prambanan temple in Java, both already recorded here: King Bhadravarman of Champa building the first temple at My Son and dedicating the valley to a Shiva linga bearing his own name, founding what became the kingdom's religious center for the next thousand years.
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