(Cham: ꨦꨴꨫ ꨠꨩꨣ, Khmer: ឝ្រី មារ, fl. 137 or 192 AD), also known as
(甌連), was the founder of the kingdom of Lâm Ấp in 192. He was originally a local official of Xianglin (Tượng Lâm), then under the rule of the Chinese Eastern Han dynasty.
Biography
He is known in Chinese records as Ōu Lián (甌連), or Zhulian, which in Vietnamese pronunciation is Khu Liên (chữ Hán: 區連). Attempts have also been made to identify Sri Mara with Fan Shiman (范師蔓) of Funan (circa 230 CE). on a stele recorded as Sri Mara (Chinese 释利摩罗).
He was born in Tượng Lâm (Vietnamese pronunciation of Chinese 象林, in what is today Thừa Thiên Huế province in Central Vietnam) an area of tension between the Han dynasty and the natives of Lâm Ấp (Vietnamese pronunciation of Chinese Lin Yi 林邑, the precursor to Champa). According to Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, in 137, he led thousands of Chams to rebel against the Han prefect in Tượng Lâm. However, while Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư mentions his name in the uprising in 137, An Nam chí lược states that the rebellion was led by 'barbarians' and does not mention him by name. Jiaozhi governor Phàn Diễn led an army of over ten thousands troops from both Jiaozhi and Jiuzhen to quell the uprising but soon failed. Giả Xương, another Han official was appointed to Rinan to lead the army of other districts and provinces in the region to quell the uprising but failed and was besieged by the rebels for more than one year. In 138, Jiaozhou's governor Trương Kiều along with Jiuzhen's governor Chúc Lương successfully made peace with the rebels in Tượng Lâm. History records don't clarify the terms of the peace agreements between the Han dynasty governors and the rebels, so it remains unclear what happened to Khu Liên after that event. Keith W. Taylor's The Birth of the Vietnam (1983) places Khu Liên's uprising in 192, while no Vietnamese or Chinese historical sources record any uprising occurring in Tượng Lâm or Jiaozhi in that year 192.
In 192, Khu Liên declared himself King of Lâm Ấp and founded the kingdom. This is considered the official founding of Champa, though Cham legend dates the founding to be much earlier.
In 248, Khu Lien led the Cham in looting and razing Jiaozhi and Jiuzhen. The Cham then defeated the fleet sent to repulse them, at Bay of the Battle. This event, along with the gap between the rebel in 137 and the kingdom's declaration 192, has led to the hypothesis that 'Sri Mara' or 'Khu Liên' might have been a noble title used by multiple leaders. If Khu Liên was indeed the one who led the uprising in 137, it would be unlikely for him to also lead the raids on Jiaozhi and Jiuzhen in 248 — more than a hundred years later.
References
• Khu_Liên (Wikipedia)
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Sri Mara (Cham: ꨦꨴꨫ ꨠꨩꨣ, Khmer: ឝ្រី មារ, fl. 137 or 192 AD), also known as Khu Liên or Ou Lian (甌連), was the founder of the kingdom of Lâm Ấp in 192. He was originally a local official of Xianglin (Tượng Lâm), then under the rule of the Chinese Eastern Han dynasty.