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{{Short description|Ancient kingdom located in Indochina, centered on the Mekong Delta}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Redirect|Nokor Phnom|the Thai province|Nakhon Phanom Province}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2015}}
{{Infobox former country
| native_name            = {{native name|km|ហ៊្វូណន}}
| conventional_long_name = Funan
| common_name            = Funan
| era                    = Classical era
| event_start            = Establishment
| date_start             = AD 50 
| event_end              = Chenla conquest
| date_end               = 627
| life_span              = 50 CE–627
| event1                 = [[Chenla]] secession
| date_event1            = 550
| s1                     = Chenla
| image_map              = Map indianized kingdoms indochina.jpg
| image_map_caption      = Map of Indianized kingdoms of Indochina (1st to 9th centuries CE)
| capital                = [[Vyadhapura]]
| common_languages       = {{ubl|[[Proto-Khmeric language|Proto-Khmeric]]{{efn|Later [[Old Khmer language|Old Khmer]].}} {{small|(common)}}|[[Old Malay]] {{small|(lingua franca)}}|[[Sanskrit]] ({{small|court and religious)}}}}
| religion               = {{ubl|[[Hinduism]]|[[Buddhism]]}}
| currency               = Native coins
| government_type        = [[Mandala (political model)|Mandala kingdom]]
| today                  = {{ubl|[[Cambodia]]|[[Vietnam]]|[[Thailand]]}}
}}
{{History of Cambodia}} {{History of Vietnam}}
'''Funan''' ({{zh|t=扶南|p=Fúnán}}, also {{zh|t=夫南}}; {{langx|vi|Phù Nam}}; {{langx|km|ហ៊្វូណន|Hvunân}}, {{IPA|km|fuːnɑːn}}; {{langx|sa|व्याधपूर, Vyādhapūra}}) was a loose network of ancient [[Greater India#Indianized kingdoms of Southeast Asia|Indianized states]]'' ([[Mandala (political model)|Mandala]])''<ref>{{Cite book |author=Martin Stuart-Fox |author-link=Martin Stuart-Fox |title=A Short History of China and Southeast Asia: Tribute, Trade and Influence |url=https://archive.org/details/shorthistorychin00stua |url-access=limited |publisher=Allen & Unwin |year=2003 |page=[https://archive.org/details/shorthistorychin00stua/page/n39 29]|isbn=9781864489545}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |author=Dougald JW O'Reilly |title=Early Civilizations of Southeast Asia |publisher=Altamira Press |year=2007 |page=194}}</ref> located in [[Mainland Southeast Asia]], covering parts of present-day Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam, that existed from the first to seventh century CE. The name is found in [[Twenty-Four Histories|Chinese historical texts]] describing the kingdom, and the most extensive descriptions a name the people of Funan gave to their polity, perhaps a Chinese transcription of ''pnom'', “mountain”. Funan is generally considered as the first known kingdom in Southeast Asia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Funan {{!}} Cambodia, Map, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Funan |access-date=2025-08-19 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> Some scholars argued that ancient Chinese scholars have found the records formerly the Kingdom of Funan, were located to the South-west of Linyi (Champa Kingdom in central Vietnam). 

Like the name of the kingdom, the ethno-linguistic nature of the people is the subject of much discussion among specialists. The leading hypotheses are that the Funanese were mostly [[Austroasiatic languages|Mon–Khmer]], or that they were mostly [[Austronesian peoples|Austronesian]], or that they constituted a multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic society. The available evidence is inconclusive on this issue. [[Michael Vickery]] has said that, even though identification of the language of Funan is not possible, the evidence suggests that the population was Khmer.<ref>Michael Vickery, "Funan reviewed: Deconstructing the Ancients", ''Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême Orient'' XC-XCI (2003–2004), pp. 101–143</ref> However, several studies demonstrates that inhabitants of Funan probably spoke [[Malayo-Polynesian languages]], as in neighboring [[Champa]].<ref name="mal">{{cite book|chapter-url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781118455074.wbeoe059|chapter=Funan, Kingdom of|date=2016|doi=10.1002/9781118455074.wbeoe059|author=Trude Jacobsen|title=The Encyclopedia of Empire |pages=1–2 |isbn=978-1-118-44064-3 }}</ref><ref name="ngu">{{cite journal|url=https://d.vjst.vn/index.php/vmost_jossh/article/view/291|title=FUNAN (Phu Nam) from a new perspective|date=2022|author=Minh Giang Vu|journal=Journal of Social Science and Humanities|volume=64 |issue=3 |pages=71–85 |doi=10.31276/VMOSTJOSSH.64(3).71-85|url-access=subscription|doi-access=free}}</ref> The results of archaeology at [[Óc Eo]] have demonstrated "no true discontinuity between Óc Eo and pre-Angkorian levels", indicating ancient Mon-khmer region may have gone as far back as the 4th century BCE. Though regarded by Chinese authors as a single unified polity, some modern scholars suspect that Funan may have been a collection of city-states that sometimes were at war with one another and at other times constituted a political unity.<ref name="havantan91">[[Hà Văn Tấn]], "Oc Eo: Endogenous and Exogenous Elements", ''Viet Nam Social Sciences'', 1–2 (7–8), 1986, pp.91–101.</ref> From archaeological evidence, which includes [[Roman Empire|Roman]], Chinese, and Indian goods excavated at the ancient mercantile centre of [[Óc Eo]] in southern Vietnam, it is known that Funan must have been a powerful trading state.<ref>Lương Ninh, "Funan Kingdom: A Historical Turning Point", ''Vietnam Archaeology'', 147 3/2007: 74–89.</ref> Excavations at [[Angkor Borei]] in southern Cambodia have likewise delivered evidence of an important settlement. Since Óc Eo was linked to a port on the coast and to Angkor Borei by a system of canals, it is possible that all of these locations together constituted the heartland of Funan.

==Etymology==
Some scholars have advanced speculative proposal regarding the origin and meaning of the word ''Funan''. It is often said that the name ''Funan'' ([[Middle Chinese]] pronunciation of {{lang|zh-hant|扶南}}: /bju nậm/, [[Eastern Han Chinese|Later Han]] pronunciation: /buɑ nəm/<ref name="Schuessler2007">{{cite book |last1=Schuessler |first1=Axel |title=ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese |date=2007 |publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press |location=Honolulu, HI |isbn=978-0-8248-2975-9}}</ref>) represents a [[transcription (linguistics)|transcription]] from some local language into Chinese. For example, French scholar [[Georges Coedès]] advanced the theory that in using the word ''Funan'', ancient Chinese scholars were transcribing a word related to the Khmer word ''bnaṃ'' or ''vnaṃ'' (modern: ''phnoṃ'', meaning "mountain").<ref>Georges Cœdès, "La Stele de Ta-Prohm", ''Bulletin de l'Ecole française d'Extreme-Orient (BEFEO)'', Hanoi, VI, 1906, pp.44–81; George Cœdès, ''Histoire ancienne des États hindouisés d'Extrême-Orient'', Hanoi, 1944, pp.44–45; Georges Cœdès, ''Les états hindouisés d'Indochine et d'Indonésie'', Paris, E. de Boccard, 1948, p.128.</ref>

However, the epigraphist Claude Jacques pointed out that this explanation was based on a mistranslation of the Sanskrit word ''parvatabùpála'' in the ancient [[Khmer inscriptions|inscriptions]] as equivalent to the Khmer word ''bnaṃ'' and a mis-identification of the King [[Bhavavarman I]] mentioned in them as the conqueror of Funan.<ref>Claude Jacques, "'Funan', 'Zhenla'. The reality concealed by these Chinese views of Indochina", in R. B. Smith and W. Watson (eds.), ''Early South East Asia: Essays in Archaeology, History, and Historical Geography'', New York, Oxford University Press, 1979, pp.371–9, pp.373, 375; Ha Van Tan, "Óc Eo: Endogenous and Exogenous Elements", ''Viet Nam Social Sciences'', 1–2 (7–8), 1986, pp. 91–101, pp.91–92.</ref> It has also been observed that in Chinese the character {{lang|zh-hant|南}} ({{zh|p=nán}}, {{langx|vi|nam}}) is frequently used in geographical terms to mean "South"; Chinese scholars used it in this sense in naming other locations or regions of Southeast Asia, such as [[Annam (Chinese province)|Annam]].<ref name="Claude Jacques 1979, pp.371">Claude Jacques, "‘Funan’, ‘Zhenla’: The Reality Concealed by these Chinese Views of Indochina", in R. B. Smith and W. Watson (eds.), ''Early South East Asia : Essays in Archaeology, History and Historical Geography'', New York, Oxford University Press, 1979, pp.371–9, p.378.</ref>

Thus, ''Funan'' may be an originally Chinese word, and may not be a transcription at all. Jacques proposed that use of the name Funan should be abandoned in favour of the names, such as ''Bhavapura'', ''Aninditapura'', ''Shresthapura'' and ''Vyadhapura'', which are known from inscriptions to have been used at the time for cities in the region, as opposed to ''Funan'' or ''[[Chenla Kingdom|Zhenla]]'' which are unknown in the Old Khmer language.<ref name="Claude Jacques 1979, pp.371"/>

==Sources==
[[File:Di tích Gò Cây Thị A.jpg|thumb|The archeological site of Go Cay Thi, [[Oc Eo]]]]
The first modern scholar to reconstruct the history of the ancient polity of Funan was [[Paul Pelliot]], who in his ground-breaking article "Le Fou-nan" of 1903 drew exclusively on Chinese historical records to set forth the sequence of documented events connecting the foundation of Funan in approximately the 1st century CE with its demise by conquest in the 6th to 7th century. Scholars critical of Pelliot's Chinese sources have expressed scepticism regarding his conclusions.<ref>See Vickery, "Funan Deconstructed"</ref>

First record dated 84 CE in late Han period 后汉书.
Chinese records dating from the 3rd century CE, beginning with the {{lang|zh-latn|Sānguó zhì}} ({{lang|zh-hant|三國志}}, [[Records of the Three Kingdoms]]) completed in 289 CE by [[Chen Shou|Chén Shòu]] ({{lang|zh-hant|陳壽}}; 233–297), record the arrival of two Funanese embassies at the court of {{lang|zh-latn|Lǚ Dài}} ({{lang|zh-hant|呂待}}), governor in the southern Chinese kingdom of Wú ({{lang|zh-hant|吳}}): the first embassy arrived between 225 and 230 CE, the second in the year 243.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Pelliot |first= Paul | author-link1 = Paul Pelliot |date= 1903 |title=Le Fou-nan |url= http://www.persee.fr/doc/befeo_0336-1519_1903_num_3_1_1216| access-date = 22 October 2017 |language= fr |journal= Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient |volume= 3 |page= 303 |doi=10.3406/befeo.1903.1216}}</ref> Later sources such as the Liáng shū ({{lang|zh-hant|梁書}}, [[Book of Liang]]) of Yáo Chá ({{lang|zh-hant|姚察}}; 533–606) and {{lang|zh-latn|[[Yao Silian|Yáo Sīlián]]}} ({{lang|zh-hant|姚思廉}}, d. 637), completed in 636, discuss the mission of the 3rd-century Chinese envoys [[Kang Tai]] ({{lang|zh-hant|康泰}}) and {{lang|zh-latn|Zhū Yīng}} ({{lang|zh-hant|朱應}}) from the Kingdom of Wu to Funan. The writings of these envoys, though no longer extant in their original condition, were excerpted and as such preserved in the later dynastic histories, and form the basis for much of what we know about Funan.

Since the publication of Pelliot's article, archaeological excavation in Vietnam and Cambodia, especially excavation of sites related to the [[Óc Eo]] culture, have supported and supplemented his conclusion.

==History==
[[File:Ruins of Go Thap Muoi, Go Thap archaeological site.jpg|thumb|The archaeological site of Go Thap Muoi, [[Đồng Tháp]]]]

{{see also | Indosphere }}

===Origins of Funan===
Chinese sources relate a local legend to document Funan's origin, that a foreigner named "Huntian (混填)" [pinyin: Hùntián] established the Kingdom of Funan around the 1st century CE in the [[Mekong Delta]] of southern Vietnam. Archeological evidence shows that extensive human settlement in the region may go as far back as the 4th century BCE. Though treated by Chinese historians as a single unified empire, according to some modern scholars Funan may have been a collection of city-states that sometimes warred with one another and at other times constituted a political unity.<ref name="havantan91" />

The ethnic and linguistic origins of the Funanese people have consequently been subject to scholarly debate, and no firm conclusions can be drawn based on the evidence available. The Funanese may have been [[Cham people|Cham]] or from another [[Austronesian peoples|Austronesian]] group, or they may have been [[Khmer people|Khmer]] or from another [[Austroasiatic]] group. It is possible that they are the ancestors of those indigenous people dwelling in the southern part of Vietnam today who refer themselves as "Khmer" or "Khmer Krom." The Khmer term "krom" means "below" or "lower part of" and is used to refer to territory that was later colonized by Vietnamese immigrants and taken up into the modern state of Vietnam.<ref name="Asia p.62">Asia: A Concise History by Milton W. Meyer p.62</ref> While no conclusive study to determine whether Funan's ethnolinguistic components were Austronesian or Austroasiatic, there is dispute among scholars. According to the majority of Vietnamese academics, for example, Mac Duong, stipulates that "Funan's core population certainly were the Austronesians, not Khmer;" the fall of Funan and the rise of [[Zhenla]] from the north in the 6th century indicate "the arrival of the Khmer to the Mekong Delta." That thesis received support from [[D. G. E. Hall]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Nationalism and Ethnicity in Southeast Asia: Proceedings of the Conference "Nationalism and Ethnicity in Southeast Asia" at Humboldt University, Berlin, October 1993 · Band 2|last1=Wessel|first1=Ingrid|publisher=LIT|year=1994|isbn=978-3-82582-191-3}}</ref> Recent archaeological research lends weight to the conclusion that Funan was a Mon-Khmer polity.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Ancient Southeast Asia|author1-link=John N. Miksic |last1=Miksic|first1=John Norman|last2=Yian|first2=Goh Geok|publisher=Routledge |year=2016}}</ref> In his Funan review, [[Michael Vickery]] expresses himself a strong supporter of Funan's Khmer predominance theory.

It is also possible that Funan was a multicultural society, including various ethnic and linguistic groups. In the late 4th and 5th centuries, Indianization advanced more rapidly, in part through renewed impulses from the south Indian [[Pallava dynasty]] and the north Indian [[Gupta Empire]].<ref name="Asia p.62"/> The only extant local writings from the period of Funan are paleographic [[Grantha alphabet|Pallava Grantha]] inscriptions in [[Sanskrit]] of the [[Pallava dynasty]], a scholarly language used by learned and ruling elites throughout South and Southeast Asia. These inscriptions give no information about the ethnicity or vernacular tongue of the Funanese.

Funan may have been the [[Suwannaphum|Suvarnabhumi]] referred to in ancient Indian texts.<ref>[[Pang Khat]], «Le Bouddhisme au Cambodge», René de Berval, ''Présence du Bouddhisme'', Paris, Gallimard, 1987, pp.535–551, pp.537, 538; Amarajiva Lochan, "India and Thailand: Early Trade Routes and Sea Ports", S.K. Maity, Upendra Thakur, A.K. Narain (eds,), ''Studies in Orientology: Essays in Memory of Prof. A.L. Basham'', Agra, Y.K. Publishers, 1988, pp.222–235, pp.222, 229–230; Prapod Assavavirulhakarn, ''The Ascendancy of Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia'', Chieng Mai, Silkworm Books, 2010, p.55</ref> Among the [[Khmer Krom]] of the lower Mekong region the belief is held that they are the descendants of ancient Funan, the core of Suvarnabhumi/Suvarnadvipa, which covered a vast extent of Southeast Asia including present day Cambodia, southern Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Burma, Malaya, Sumatra and other parts of Indonesia.<ref>Philip Taylor, ''The Khmer lands of Vietnam: Environment, Cosmology, and Sovereignty'', Honolulu, Asian Studies Association of Australia in association with University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2014, pp.36–37, 65, 67, 271.</ref> In December 2017, Dr Vong Sotheara, of the Royal University of Phnom Penh, discovered a Pre-Angkorian stone inscription in the Province of [[Kampong Speu Province|Kampong Speu]] Baset District, which he tentatively dated to 633 CE. According to him, the inscription would “prove that Suvarnabhumi was the Khmer Empire.” The inscription, translated, read: “The great King Isanavarman is full of glory and bravery. He is the King of Kings, who rules over Suvarnabhumi until the sea, which is the border, while the kings in the neighbouring states honour his order to their heads”.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national-post-depth-arts-culture/was-cambodia-home-asias-ancient-land-gold?amp;utm_campaign=df3646b64e-20180105&utm_medium=email& |title=Rinith Taing, "Was Cambodia home to Asia's ancient 'Land of Gold'?", ''The Phnom Penh Post,'' 5 January, 2018. |access-date=14 May 2024 |archivedate=6 June 2020 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200606183723/https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national-post-depth-arts-culture/was-cambodia-home-asias-ancient-land-gold?amp;utm_campaign=df3646b64e-20180105&utm_medium=email& |url-status=deviated }}</ref>

===Theories of origin and Indianisation===
===Invented theories of origin===

Huntian

The [[Book of Liang]] records a local legend to document Funan's origin, that of the foundation of Funan by the foreigner Hùntián ({{lang|zh-hant|混塡}}, [[Middle Chinese]] pronunciation /ɦwən<sup>x</sup> tɦian/): "He came from the southern country Jiào ({{lang|zh-hant|徼}}, an unidentified location, perhaps on the Malaysian Peninsula or in the Indonesian archipelago) after dreaming that his personal genie had delivered a divine bow to him and had directed him to embark on a large merchant junk. In the morning, he proceeded to the temple, where he found a bow at the foot of the genie's tree. He then boarded a ship, which the genie caused to land in Fúnán. The queen of the country, Liǔyè ({{lang|zh-hant|柳葉}}, "Willow Leaf"; [[Queen Soma]], [[Middle Chinese]]: ''Iiu-iap'') wanted to pillage the ship and seize it, so Hùntián shot an arrow from his divine bow which pierced through Liǔyè's ship.<ref name=Coedes>{{cite book|last= Coedès|first= George|author-link= George Coedès|editor= Walter F. Vella|others= trans.Susan Brown Cowing|title= The Indianized States of Southeast Asia|year= 1968|publisher= University of Hawaii Press|isbn= 978-0-8248-0368-1}}</ref>{{rp|37}} Frightened, she gave herself up, and Hùntián took her for his wife. But unhappy to see her naked, he folded a piece of material to make a garment through which he made her pass her head. Then he governed the country and passed power on to his son,<ref name=Coedes/>{{rp|37}} who was the founder of seven cities." Nearly the same story appeared in the Jìn shū {{lang|zh-hant|晉書}} ([[Book of Jin]]), compiled by [[Fang Xuanling|Fáng Xuánlíng]] in 648 CE; however, in the Book of Jin the names given to the foreign conqueror and his native wife are "Hùnhuì" {{lang|zh-hant|混湏}} and "Yèliǔ" {{lang|zh-hant|葉柳}}.

Some scholars have identified the conqueror Hùntián of the [[Book of Liang]] with the Brahmin Kauṇḍinya who married a nāga (snake) princess named Somā, as set forth in a [[Sanskrit]] inscription found at [[Mỹ Sơn]]<ref name=Coedes/>{{rp|37}} and dated 658 CE (see below). Other scholars<ref>Vickery, "Funan reviewed", p. 197</ref> have rejected this identification, pointing out that the word "Hùntián" has only two syllables, while the word "Kauṇḍinya" has three, and arguing that Chinese scholars would not have used a two-syllable Chinese word to transcribe a three-syllable word from another language.<ref>Edwin George Pulleyblank, ''Lexicon of reconstructed pronunciation in early Middle Chinese, and early mandarin'', Vancouver: UBC Press 1991, pp. 135 and 306</ref> Historian O.W. Wolters states that it was rather the Indianized local Southeast Asian traders, not Indian Brahmins, who provided the initial contact with Indian cultural traditions and the local rulers followed up.<ref>Keneth Hall, ''The “Indianization” of Funan: An Economic History of Southeast Asia's First State''(1982),"O.W. Wolters has stressed a mutual sharing process in the evolution of Indianized statecraft in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asian traders provided the initial contact with and knowledge of the Indian cultural traditions. Southeast Asian rulers followed up; thus, the Indianizing of their realm was due not to commercial pressures not to a massive influx of Indian Brahmans, but to a recognition that Indian culture provided certain opportunities for administrative and technological advancement. The initial era of trade contact was one of adaption and learning...It was a Southeast Asian initiative, not Indian; and it was a slow process of cultural synthesis, not rapid imposition of Hinduism made possible by a massive influx of Brahmans that was responsible for the Indianization of Southeast Asia....Hindu traditions was this selectively mobilized to reinforce political alliances within the fragile polity of these early states."</ref>

[[File:Funan stele.JPG|thumb|This [[stele]] found at [[Tháp Mười]] in [[Đồng Tháp Province]], Vietnam and now located in the Museum of History in [[Ho Chi Minh City]] is one of the few extant writings that can be attributed confidently to the kingdom of Funan. The text is in [[Sanskrit]], written in [[Grantha script]] of the [[Pallava dynasty]], dated to the mid-5th century CE, and tells of a donation in honour of [[Vishnu]] by a Prince Gunavarman of the Kaundinya lineage.]] The Sanskrit inscription (K.5) of Tháp Mười (known as "Prasat Pram Loven" in Khmer), which is now on display in the [[Museum of Vietnamese History]] in [[Ho Chi Minh City]], refers to a Prince Guṇavarman, younger son (''nṛpasunu—bālo pi'') of a king Ja[yavarman] who was "the moon of the Kauṇḍinya line (''...{{nbsp}}kauṇḍi[n]ya[vaṅ]śaśaśinā{{nbsp}}...'') and chief "of a realm wrested from the mud".<ref>Georges Cœdès, "Études Cambodgiennes XXV: Deux inscriptions sanskrites du Fou-nan", pp. 2–8</ref>

The legend of Kaundinya is paralleled in modern Khmer folklore, where the foreign prince is known as "Preah Thaong" and the queen as "Neang Neak". In this version of the story, Preah Thaong arrives by sea to an island marked by a giant thlok tree, native to Cambodia. On the island, he finds the home of the [[nāga]]s and meets Neang Neak, daughter of the nāga king. He marries her with blessings from her father and returns to the human world. The nāga king drinks the sea around the island and confers the name "Kampuchea Thipdei", which is derived from the Sanskrit (''Kambujādhipati'') and may be translated into English as "the lord of Cambodia". In another version, it is stated that Preah Thaong fights Neang Neak.<ref>Rudiger Gaudes, ''Kaundinya, Preah Thong, and the Nagi Soma: Some Aspects of a Cambodian Legend'', p. 337</ref><ref>Eveline Poree-Maspero, ''Nouvelle Etude sur la Nagi Soma'', pp. 239 & 246</ref><ref>[[R. C. Majumdar]], ''Kambuja-Desa or An Ancient Cambodian Colony in Cambodia'', pp. 18–19</ref>

Kaundinya II
[[File:Ruins of Nam Linh Son archaeological site, Oc Eo.jpg|thumb|Ruins of Nam Linh Son, [[Oc Eo]]]]

Even if the Chinese "Hùntián" is not the proper transcription of the Sanskrit "Kaundinya", the name "Kaundinya" [Kauṇḍinya, Koṇḍañña, Koṇḍinya, etc.] is nevertheless an important one in the history of Funan. Chinese sources mention another person of the name "Qiáochénrú" ({{lang|zh-hant|僑陳如}}).<ref>Hackmann, ''Erklären des Wörterbuch zum chinesischen Buddhismus'', p. 80, s. v. ''Chiao-ch'ên-ju''</ref> A person of that name is mentioned in the [[Book of Liang]] in a story that appears somewhat after the story of Hùntián.

According to this source, Qiáochénrú was one of the successors of the king Tiānzhú Zhāntán ({{lang|zh-hant|天竺旃檀}}, "Candana from India"), a ruler of Funan who in the year 357 CE sent tamed elephants as tribute to [[Emperor Mu of Jin]] (r. 344–361); personal name: Sīmǎ Dān ({{lang|zh-hant|司馬聃}}): "He [Qiáochénrú] was originally a Brahmin from India. There a voice told him: 'you must go reign over Fúnán,' and he rejoiced in his heart. In the south, he arrived at [[Pan Pan (kingdom)|Pánpán]] ({{lang|zh-hant|盤盤}}). The people of Fúnán appeared to him; the whole kingdom rose up with joy, went before him, and chose him king. He changed all the laws to conform to the system of India."

====Interpretation of the myths====

Keneth Hall remarks that the basic details of the Chinese legend are reiterated elsewhere in Indian and Southeast Asian folklore.<ref>Keneth Hall, ''The “Indianization” of Funan: An Economic History of Southeast Asia's First State''(1982),"The legend focuses upon the marriage between the foreigner, bearing the Indian name "Kaundinya"-a great Brahman, and a local Nagi princess, daughter of the ruler of the water realm. This legend is broadly used to symbolise the union of Indian and indigenous cultures, Kaundinya representing the more sophisticated Indian culture and religion and the Navi princess symbolic of local ways and indigenous fertility cults. The marriage myth attempts to explain not only the penetration of Indian culture into Southeast Asia, but also the origin of Southeast Asian kingship. Historians have not, however, been in agreement on its interpretation."</ref>

The historian Gabriel Ferrand believed that some Indian merchants might have immigrated to the region and established relations with the natives and that's how the myth emerged.<ref>Keneth Hall, ''The “Indianization” of Funan: An Economic History of Southeast Asia's First State''(1982), "A classical account of the process symbolized in the Kaundinya myth is provided in the historical reconstruction by the French historian Gabriel Ferrand: "The true picture must have been something like this: two or three Indian vessels sailing together arrived there. The newcomers established relations with the chiefs of the country, earning favor with them by means of presents, treatment of illnesses, and amulets...No one could use such procedures better than an Indian. He would undoubtedly pass himself off as a royal or princely extraction, and his host could not help but be favorably impressed."."</ref> Some Indian historians have taken this myth to extreme length and speculate that a large population of South Asians colonized Funan.<ref>Keneth Hall, ''The “Indianization” of Funan: An Economic History of Southeast Asia's First State''(1982),"Ferrand's theme of Indians travelling to Southeast Asia and providing guidance over a cultural transformation is carried to the extreme by several Indian historians who have argued that large number of South Asians not only migrated to but also colonized Funan and other early centers of civilization in Southeast Asia."</ref> Dutch historian J.C. van Leur stressed that it was the local rulers who recognized the benefits of associating with their relatively advanced social technologies and drew from the Indian traditions by encouraging migration of Brahmin clerks to help with the administration.<ref>Keneth Hall, ''The “Indianization” of Funan: An Economic History of Southeast Asia's First State''(1982), p. 84</ref>

As per O.W. Wolters, there was a mutual sharing process in the evolution of Indianized statecraft and no mass influx of Brahmans. He said that it was rather the Indianized local Southeast Asian traders who provided the initial contact with Indian cultural traditions and the local rulers followed up. He also stated that Hindu traditions was selectively mobilized by the local rulers to strengthen the political alliances among fragile polity of the states in that period.<ref>Keneth Hall, ''The “Indianization” of Funan: An Economic History of Southeast Asia's First State''(1982),"O.W. Wolters has stressed a mutual sharing process in the evolution of Indianized statecraft in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asian traders provided the initial contact with and knowledge of the Indian cultural traditions. Southeast Asian rulers followed up; thus, the Indianizing of their realm was due not to commercial pressures not to a massive influx of Indian Brahmans, but to a recognition that Indian culture provided certain opportunities for administrative and technological advancement. The initial era of trade contact was one of adaption and learning...It was a Southeast Asian initiative, not Indian; and it was a slow process of cultural synthesis, not rapid imposition of Hinduism made possible by a massive influx of Brahmans that was responsible for the Indianization of Southeast Asia....Hindu traditions was this selectively mobilized to reinforce political alliances within the fragile polity of these early states."</ref>

===Apex and decline of Funan===
Successive rulers following Hun-t'ien included Hun-p'an-huang, P'an-p'an, and then Fan Shih-man, "Great King of Funan", who "had large ships built, and sailing all over the immense sea he attacked more than ten kingdoms{{nbsp}}... he extended his territory five or six thousand [[li (unit)|li]]." Fan Shih-man died on a military expedition to Chin-lin, "Frontier of Gold". He was followed by Chin-cheng, Fan Chan, Ch'ang and then Fan Hsun, in successive assassinations. Before his death, Fan Chan sent embassies to India and China in 243.<ref name=Coedes/>{{rp|38,40,42,46,56,59–60}}<ref name=Higham2>Higham, C., 2014, Early Mainland Southeast Asia, Bangkok: River Books Co., Ltd., {{ISBN|9786167339443}}</ref>{{rp|283–284–285}}

Around 245, Funan was described as having "walled villages, palaces, and dwellings. They devote themselves to agriculture{{nbsp}}... they like to engrave ornaments and chisel. Many of their eating utensils are silver. Taxes are paid in gold, silver, pearls, perfumes. There are books and depositories of archives and other things." The Indianised ruler Chan-T'an was ruling in 357, followed by another Indianised ruler Chiao Chen-ju (Kaundinya) in the fifth century, who "changed all the laws to conform to the system of India." In 480, She-yeh-pa-mo, Jayavarman or "Protege of Victory" reigned until his death in 514. One of his sons, Rudravarman, killed the other, Gunavarman, for the throne, and became the last king of Funan.<ref name=Coedes/>{{rp|38,40,42,46,56,59–60}}<ref name=Higham2/>{{rp|283–284–285}}

Funan reached the apex of its power under the 3rd-century king Fan Shiman ({{zh|p=Fàn Shīmàn}}). Fan Shiman expanded his empire's navy and improved the Funanese bureaucracy, creating a quasi-feudal pattern that left local customs and identities largely intact, particularly in the empire's further reaches. Fan Shiman and his successors also sent ambassadors to China and India to regulate sea trade. The kingdom likely accelerated the process of [[Indianisation (British India)|Indianization]] of Southeast Asia. Later kingdoms of Southeast Asia such as [[Chenla]] may have emulated the Funanese court. The Funanese established a strong system of mercantilism and commercial monopolies that would become a pattern for empires in the region.<ref name="Stark, M. T. 2006">Stark, M. T. (2006). From Funan to Angkor: Collapse and regeneration in ancient Cambodia. After collapse: The regeneration of complex societies, 144–167.</ref>

Funan's dependence on maritime trade is seen as a cause for the beginning of Funan's downfall. Their coastal ports allowed trade with foreign regions that funnelled goods to the north and coastal populations. However, the shift in maritime trade to Sumatra, the rise in the Srivijaya trade empire, and the taking of trade routes all throughout Southeast Asia by China, leads to economic instability in the south, and forces politics and economy northward.<ref name="Stark, M. T. 2006"/>

Funan was superseded and absorbed in the 6th century by the [[Khmer people|Khmer]] polity of the [[Chenla Kingdom]] (Zhenla).<ref name="Ray2009">{{cite book|author=Nick Ray|title=Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos & the Greater Mekong|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0smGIn5WJhEC&q=funan+mountain+kings&pg=PA30|year=2009|publisher=Lonely Planet|isbn=978-1-74179-174-7|pages=30–}}</ref> "The king had his capital in the city of T'e-mu. Suddenly his city was subjugated by Chenla, and he had to migrate south to the city of Nafuna" ([[Middle Chinese]]: ''*nâ-piiidt-nâ'').<ref name=Coedes/>{{rp|65}}

The ''[[Book of Sui]]'' (complied in 636) states: "The Kingdom of [[Zhenla]] is to the southwest of Linyi and was originally subject to Funan… The surname of its [former] king was that of the Cha-li clan; his given name was Zhiduo-si-na 質多斯那. His ancestors had gradually become more powerful and flourishing until the time of Zhi-duo-sina himself, who annexed Funan and possessed it." The ''[[New Book of Tang]]'' (c. 1060) tells that "Yīshēnàxiāndài (伊奢那先代), son of Citrasena-[[Mahendravarman (Chenla)|Mahendravarman]], subdued Funan and annexed Funan territory in the beginning of the Zhenguan era (627–649) [when [[Emperor Taizong of Tang]]
ruled]."

The first inscription in the Khmer language is dated shortly after the fall of Funan. A concentration of later Khmer inscriptions in southern Cambodia may suggest the even earlier presence of a Khmer population.<ref>Michael Vickery,"What to Do about The Khmers", ''Journal of Southeast Asian Studies'' 27, 2, 1996. p. 390,</ref> Despite absence of compelling evidence as to the ethnicity of the Funanese, modern scholar Michael Vickery has stated that "on present evidence it is impossible to assert that Funan as an area and its dominant groups were anything but Khmer".<ref>Michael Vickery, "Funan Reviewed: Deconstructing the Ancients", p.125</ref>

===Rump states elsewhere===
According to British Historian Robert Nichol,<ref name="Nicholl">[https://www.jstor.org/stable/20174317?seq=4 Brunei Rediscovered: A Survey of Early Times By Robert Nicholl] p. 35 citing Ferrand. Relations, page 564-65. Tibbets, Arabic Texts, pg 47.</ref>{{rp|36}} When Funan kingdom collapsed under Khmer invasions, during the year 680, the [[Sailendra Dynasty]] set up rump states of Funan in the small [[History of Sarawak|kingdoms of Sarawak]] in Borneo across the South China sea, from Funan.<ref name="Nicholl" />{{rp|36}} He also posited blood relations with the [[Kedatuan of Madja-as|Visayans in the Philippines]] with the Vijaya of Sarawak<ref name="Nicholl" />{{rp|36}} which in turn cause them to be related to Funan people as well as the [[Srivijaya Empire]].

===Legacy===
The "King of the mountain" was the monarch of Funan.<ref name="Ramirez-Faria2007">{{cite book|author=Carlos Ramirez-Faria|title=Concise Encyclopedia Of World History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gGKsS-9h4BYC&q=funan+mountain+kings&pg=PA106|date=1 January 2007|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist|isbn=978-81-269-0775-5|pages=106–}}</ref><ref name="Hal1985">{{cite book|author=Kenneth R. Hal|title=Maritime Trade and State Development in Early Southeast Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ncqGAAAAIAAJ&q=funan+mountain+kings|year=1985|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-0843-3|page=63}}</ref><ref name="Yamamoto1990">{{cite book|author=Chikyō Yamamoto|title=Introduction to Buddhist art|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nsufAAAAMAAJ&q=funan+mountain+kings|year=1990|publisher=International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan|isbn=978-81-85179-44-5|page=121}}</ref><ref name="Tadgell2015">{{cite book|author=Christopher Tadgell|title=The East: Buddhists, Hindus and the Sons of Heaven|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DaTbCgAAQBAJ&q=funan+mountain+kings&pg=PA345|date=23 October 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-75384-8|pages=345–}}</ref> There was a mountain regarded as holy.<ref name="Wavell1988">{{cite book|author=Stewart Wavell|title=The Naga King's Daughter|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HrNuAAAAMAAJ&q=funan+mountain+kings|year=1988|publisher=Antara Book Company|isbn=978-967-80-0023-9|page=12}}</ref><ref name="Hal1985"/> Mountain in Khmer sounds similar to Funan.<ref name="RayBloom2010">{{cite book|author1=Nick Ray|author2=Greg Bloom|author3=Daniel Robinson|title=Cambodia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DDVC3QCjQqsC&q=funan+mountain+kings&pg=PA26|year=2010|publisher=Lonely Planet|isbn=978-1-74220-319-5|pages=26–}}</ref><ref name="Braginsky2014">{{cite book|author=Vladimir Braginsky|title=Classical Civilizations of South-East Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dxwiAwAAQBAJ&q=funan+mountain+kings&pg=PA143|date=18 March 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-84879-7|pages=143–}}</ref><ref name="RayRobinson2008">{{cite book|author1=Nick Ray|author2=Daniel Robinson|title=Cambodia. Ediz. Inglese|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5UTelRMB4BAC&q=funan+mountain+kings&pg=PA26|year=2008|publisher=Lonely Planet|pages=26–|id=GGKEY:ALKFLS6LY8Y}}</ref>

The Java-based [[Sailendra]]s claimed that the Funan monarchs were their ancestors. Cambodia was taken control of after a sojourn in Java by [[Jayavarman II]].<ref name="Society1934">{{cite book|author=Greater India Society|title=Journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=onEZAAAAMAAJ&q=774+787+srivijaya|year=1934|page=69}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Chamber's Encyclopaedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7v_XAAAAMAAJ&q=774+787+srivijaya|year=1968|publisher=International Learnings Systems|page=764}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia Americana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HbYPAAAAMAAJ&q=774+787+srivijaya|year=1976|publisher=Americana Corporation|isbn=978-0-7172-0107-5|page=204}}</ref>

The "Mountain Kings" of Funan were claimed as the forebears of the [[Malacca Sultanate]] and [[Brunei Sultanate]].<ref name="Vienne2015">{{cite book|author=Marie-Sybille de Vienne|title=Brunei: From the Age of Commerce to the 21st Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IfpIBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA43|date=9 March 2015|publisher=NUS Press|isbn=978-9971-69-818-8|pages=43–}}</ref><ref name="Saunders2013">{{cite book|author=Graham Saunders|title=A History of Brunei|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DUv8AQAAQBAJ&q=funan+mountain+kings&pg=PA8|date=5 November 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-87394-2|pages=8–}}</ref>

==Society==
[[File:Bodhisattva Lokeshvara of My Tho.jpg|thumb|upright|Bodhisattva Lokeshvara of Phnom Da style (7th century), [[Mỹ Tho]]. Guimet Museum]] 
Keeping in mind that Funanese records did not survive in the modern period, much of what is known came from archaeological excavation. Excavations yielded discoveries of brick wall structures, precious metals and pot from southern Cambodia and Vietnam. Also found was a large canal system that linked the settlements of Angkor Borei and coastal outlets; this suggests a highly organised government.<ref name="Charles Holcombe p. 280">Charles Holcombe, ''Trade Buddhism: Maritime trade, immigration, and the Buddhist landfall in early Japan'', p. 280</ref> Funan was a complex and sophisticated society with a high population density, advanced technology, and a complex social system.

===Capital===
[[File:Wat_asram_moha_russei.jpg|thumb|A temple at the archaeological site of [[Angkor Borei]] ]] 
On the assumption that Funan was a single unified polity, scholars have advanced various linguistic arguments about the location of its "capital".
* One theory, based on the presumed connection between the word "Funan" and the Khmer word "phnom", locates the capital in the vicinity of Ba Phnoṃ near the modern Cambodian town of Banam in [[Prey Veng Province]].
* Another theory, propounded by [[George Coedès]], is that the capital was a town identified in [[Angkorian]] inscriptions as "Vyādhapura" (''City of the Hunter'').<ref>Coedès, ''The Indianized States of Southeast Asia'', pp.36 ff.</ref> Coedès based his theory on a passage in the Chinese histories which identified the capital as "Temu" ({{lang|zh-hant|特牧}}, {{zh|p=Tèmù}}); Coedès claimed this name represented a transcription from the Khmer word "dalmāk", which he translated as "hunter." This theory has been rejected by other scholars on the grounds that "dalmāk" means "trapper", not "hunter".<ref>Michael Vickery, ''Society, Economics, and Politics in pre-Angkor Cambodia: The 7th–8th centuries'', pp. 36 ff.</ref>

Unfortunately, only limited archaeological research has been conducted on Funan in southern Cambodia and Cochinchina in the last few decades, and it is precisely this region that reputedly housed the capital or capitals of Funan.<ref>Miriam T. Stark, ''et al.'', [http://www.anthropology.hawaii.edu/People/Faculty/Stark/pdfs/AP1999%20article.pdf "Results of the 1995–1996 Archaeological Field Investigations at Angkor Borei, Cambodia"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923172419/http://www.anthropology.hawaii.edu/People/Faculty/Stark/pdfs/AP1999%20article.pdf |date=23 September 2015 }}, ''Asian Perspectives'', vol.38, no.1, 1999, at University of Hawai’i, pp.7ff.</ref> However, archaeological surveys and excavations were carried out by joint Cambodian (Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts; Royal University of Fine Arts) and international teams at Angkor Borei since 1994 continuing into the 2000s. The research included excavation and dating of human burials at Wat Kamnou. Numerous brick features, architectural remains, and landscape features such as mounds, canals and reservoirs have also been identified.

Some have been dated with a wide spectrum of results ranging from the late centuries BCE to the Angkorian period. A significant canal system linking the site of Oc Eo has also been researched and dated. Phon Kaseka led a Royal Academy of Cambodia and Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts team (also with Royal University of Fine Arts personnel) conducted Iron Age to Funan period burial excavations at neighboring Phnom Borei. Large landscape features, notable settlement mounds, and other sites exhibiting Funan material culture and settlement patterns extend from at least Phnom Chisor through Oc Eo and numerous sites in Vietnam. Vietnamese archaeologists have also conducted a fair amount of research on Funan sites in the lower Mekong region.

Many of the mounds show evidence of material culture and landscape modification (inclusive of species-genera biological regimes) ranging from the metal age through the post-Angkorian period and later as evidenced by 13th through 16th century CE Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, and Cham ceramics. The evidence suggests a 2000-year or longer period of urbanization, continuous activity, and relatively strong albeit indirect and multi-nodal connections to long-distance value chains. Nevertheless, it is quite evident that periods of intense production, consumption, activity, commercial and political centrality fluctuated.

The Funan period seems to have been the heyday and Angkor Borei may have been Funan's premiere capital for much of that period. However, many of the settlements did not necessarily spring up out of nowhere or vanish quickly. They were certainly well integrated into pre-Funan, Funan, Zhenla [Chenla], Angkorian and post-Angkorian socio-economic and political networks. The urbanization and networking processes demonstrate significant continuity, evolution and longevity before and after the typical first to sixth century CE historic classification scheme.

===Culture===
[[File:Oc Eo Culture Gold Foil 2.jpg|thumb|Gold foil at [[Oc Eo]]|alt=|left]]
{{multiple image|right
| image1  = Oc-Eo Culture (9980748446).jpg
| width1  = 100
| alt1   =
| caption1 = Wooden Buddha statue
| image2  = Oc-Eo Culture (9980758426).jpg
| width2  = 100
| alt2   =
| caption2 = Funanese Sanskrit inscription
| image3  = Oc-Eo Culture (9980754756).jpg
| width3  = 100
| alt3   =
| caption3 = Funan [[Lingam]]
| image4  = Oc-Eo Culture (9980812933).jpg
| width4  = 100
| alt4   =
| caption4 = Funanese Buddha statue
}}

Archaeological evidence largely corresponds to Chinese records. The Chinese described the Funanese as people who lived on [[stilt house]]s, cultivated rice and sent tributes of gold, silver, ivory and exotic animals.<ref>{{cite journal |last= Pelliot |first= Paul | author-link1 = Paul Pelliot |date= 1903 |title=Le Fou-nan |url= http://www.persee.fr/doc/befeo_0336-1519_1903_num_3_1_1216| access-date = 22 October 2017 |language= fr |journal= Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient |volume= 3 |pages= 248–303 |doi=10.3406/befeo.1903.1216}}</ref>

Kang Tai's report was unflattering to Funanese civilisation, though Chinese court records show that a group of Funanese musicians visited China in 263 CE. The Chinese emperor was so impressed that he ordered the establishment of an institute for Funanese music near [[Nanking]].<ref>D.R.Sardesai, ''Southeast Asia: Past And Present'', 3rd ed. 1994, Westview Press, {{ISBN|978-0-8133-1706-9}}, p.23<!-- from a research on google books, a "semiprimary source"?--></ref> The Funanese were reported to have extensive book collections and archives throughout their country, demonstrating a high level of scholarly achievements.

Two Buddhist monks from Funan, named Mandrasena and [[Sanghapala]],<ref name=Coedes/>{{rp|58,92}} took up residency in China in the 5th to 6th centuries, and translated several Buddhist sūtras from Sanskrit (or a [[prakrit]]) into Chinese.<ref name="T'oung Pao 1958. p. 185">''T'oung Pao: International Journal of Chinese Studies.'' 1958. p. 185</ref> Among these texts is the [[Mahayana]] ''Saptaśatikā [[Prajnaparamita|Prajñāpāramitā]] Sūtra'', also called the ''Mahāprajñāpāramitā Mañjuśrīparivarta Sūtra''.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.acmuller.net/descriptive_catalogue/files/k0010.html|title=The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalog (T 232)}}</ref> This text was separately translated by both monks.<ref name="T'oung Pao 1958. p. 185"/> The [[bodhisattva]] [[Manjusri|Mañjuśrī]] is a prominent figure in this text.

===Economy===
{{multiple image|right
| image1  = Oc-Eo Culture (9980677234).jpg
| total_width=400
| alt1   =
| caption1 = [[Aureus]]
| image2  = Oc-Eo Culture (9980665485).jpg
| alt2   =
| caption2 = Funanese gold
| image3  = Oc-Eo Culture (9980690904).jpg
| alt3   =
| caption3 = Funanese jewelry
|footer=Funanese gold objects. Left: A local imitation of [[aureus]] issued by [[Commodus]]. Legend: L(ucius) AEL(ius) AVREL(ius) COMMO(odus)
AUG(ustus) P(ius) FEL(ix) 
}}
[[File:Oc Eo.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|A view of Mount Ba The, Oc Eo, An Giang Province, Vietnam]]
Funan was Southeast Asia's first great economy. It became prosperous through maritime trade and agriculture. The kingdom apparently minted its own silver coinage, bearing the image of the [[crested argus]] or [[Hamsa (bird)|hamsa]] bird.<ref>Lương Ninh, "Óc Eo – Cảng thị quốc tế của Vương quốc Phù Nam (Óc Eo – International Trade Port of Funnan Kingdom)", ''Khảo cổ học / Vietnam Archaeology'', 3, 2011, pp.39–44.</ref>

Funan came into prominence at a time when the trade route from India to China consisted of a maritime leg from India to the [[Isthmus of Kra]], the narrow portion of the Malay peninsula, a portage across the isthmus, and then a coast-hugging journey by ship along the [[Gulf of Siam]], past the Mekong Delta, and along the Vietnamese coast to China. Funanese kings of the 2nd century conquered polities on the isthmus itself, and thus may have controlled the entire trade route from Malaysia to central Vietnam.

The Funanese settlement of [[Óc Eo]], located near the Straits of Malacca, provided a port-of-call and entrepot for this international trade route. Archaeological evidence discovered at what may have been the commercial centre of Funan at Óc Eo includes [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] as well as [[Sasanian Empire|Persian]], [[History of India|Indian]], and [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] artefacts.<ref>Jame DiBiasio, ''The Story of Angkor,'' Chiang Mai (Thailand), Silkworm Books, 2013, p.10.</ref> The German classical scholar Albrecht Dihle believed that Funan's main port, was the [[Kattigara]] referred to by the 2nd century Alexandrian geographer [[Ptolemy]] as the emporium where merchants from the Chinese and Roman empires met to trade. Dihle also believed that the location of Óc Eo best fit the details given by Ptolemy of a voyage made by a Graeco-Roman merchant named Alexander to Kattigara, situated at the easternmost end of the maritime trade route from the eastern Roman Empire.<ref>Albrecht Dihle, "Serer und Chinesen", in ''Antike und Orient: Gesammelte Aufsätze'', Heidelberg, Carl Winter, 1984, S.209.</ref>

Georges Coedès said: "Fu-nan occupied a key position with regard to the maritime trade routes, and was inevitably a port of call both for the navigators who went through the Straits of Malacca and for those – probably more numerous – who made the transit over one of the isthmuses of the Malay Peninsula. Fu-nan may even have been the terminus of voyages from the Eastern Mediterranean, if it is the case that the Kattigara mentioned by Ptolemy was situated on the western coast of Indochina on the Gulf of Siam".<ref>Georges Coedès, ''Les Peuples de la Péninsule Indochinoise: Histoire – Civilisations'', Paris, Dunod, 1962, pp.62, translated by H. M. Wright, ''The Making of South East Asia'', Berkeley, University of California Press, 1966, p. 58-59</ref>
{{multiple image|right
| image1  = Oc-Eo_Culture_Foreign_Coins_(9980660425).jpg
| width1  = 100
| alt1   =
| caption1 = Greco-Indian
| image2  = Oc-Eo_Culture_foreign_coins_(9980725276).jpg
| width2  = 100
| alt2   =
| caption2 = Pyu
| image3  = Oc-Eo_Culture_coins_(9980723986).jpg
| width3  = 100
| alt3   =
| caption3 = Indian
| image4  = Oc-Eo_Culture_Jewelry_(9980667295).jpg
| width4  = 100
| alt4   =
| caption4 = Funanese beads
|footer=First three: silver coins of foreign origin traded in Funan.
}}

At Óc Eo, [[Roman currency|Roman coins]] were among the items of long-distance trade discovered by the French archaeologist [[Louis Malleret]] in the 1940s.<ref name="osborne 2006 pp24-25">Milton Osborne (2006), ''The Mekong: Turbulent Past, Uncertain Future'', Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, revised edition, first published in 2000, {{ISBN|1-74114-893-6}}, pp 24–25.</ref> These include mid-2nd-century Roman golden [[medal]]lions from the reigns of [[Antoninus Pius]], and his adopted son and heir [[Marcus Aurelius]].<ref name="young 2001 p 29">Gary K. Young (2001), ''Rome's Eastern Trade: International Commerce and Imperial Policy, 31 BC – AD 305'', London & New York: Routledge, {{ISBN|0-415-24219-3}}, p. 29.</ref> From Óc Eo, archaeologists also found a fine gold pendant imitation of a ''[[aureus]]'' of Antoninus minted in {{circa}} 152 AD with caption ANTONINVS AVG PIVS (Antoninus Aug(ustus) Pius) and portrait of the emperor turning left. Similar gold sheet discs that imitated Roman coins minted by local Funanese also are rediscovered, included imitations of aureus of Antoninus (minted in {{circa}} 155–158), [[Commodus]] ({{circa}} 192), [[Septimius Severus]] ({{circa}} 198–202), perhaps the minting techniques were brought by traders including those from the Roman Empire.<ref>{{citation| surname = Borell | given = Brigitte | author-mask = | chapter =The Power of Images – Coin Portraits of Roman Emperors on Jewellery Pendants in Early Southeast Asia| pages = 7–44| title =Zeitschrift für Archäologie Außereuropäischer Kulturen (6)| editor-given1 =| editor-surname1 = | editor-given2 = | editor-surname2 =| location = | publisher = Beiträge zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Archäologie| year = 2014}}</ref> It is perhaps no small coincidence that the first [[Sino-Roman relations|Roman embassy]] from "[[Daqin]]" recorded in Chinese history is dated 166 AD, allegedly sent by a Roman ruler named "Andun" ({{lang-zh|t=安敦}}; corresponding with the names Antoninus Pius or Marcus Aurelius Antoninus) and arriving through the [[Han dynasty|Eastern Han Empire's]] southernmost frontier province of [[Jiaozhi]] in northern Vietnam.<ref name="young 2001 p 29"/><ref>Yü, Ying-shih. (1986). "Han Foreign Relations", in Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe (eds), ''The Cambridge History of China: Volume I: the Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C. – A.D. 220'', 377–462, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 460–461, {{ISBN|978-0-521-24327-8}}.</ref><ref>de Crespigny, Rafe. (2007). ''A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD)''. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, p. 600, {{ISBN|978-90-04-15605-0}}.</ref><ref name="halsall 2000">{{cite web|orig-year=1998|date=2000|author=Paul Halsall|editor=Jerome S. Arkenberg|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/eastasia/romchin1.html |title=East Asian History Sourcebook: Chinese Accounts of Rome, Byzantium and the Middle East, c. 91 B.C.E. – 1643 C.E. |publisher=[[Fordham University]]|website=Fordham.edu|access-date=2016-09-17}}</ref>

In addition to trade, Funan also benefited from a sophisticated agricultural system that included use of an elaborate system of water storage and irrigation. The Funanese population was concentrated mainly along the rivers of the [[Mekong Delta]]; the area was a natural region for the development of an economy based on fishing and [[rice cultivation]].

===Foreign relations===
[[File:Funan (扶南國) 526-539 CE.png|thumb|upright| Envoy of Funan (扶南國) to the [[Liang dynasty]]. Part of "Entrance of the Foreign Visitors of Emperor Yuan of Liang" (梁元帝番客入朝圖) by the painter Gu Deqian (顧德謙) of the Southern Tang dynasty (937–976 CE).]] 
Little is known about Funan's political history apart from its relations with China. The Funanese had diplomatic relations and traded with the [[Eastern Wu]] and [[Liang dynasty|Liang]] dynasties of southern China.<ref name="Charles Holcombe p. 280"/> Contact with Southeast Asia began after the [[Southward expansion of the Han dynasty]], and the [[Han conquest of Nanyue|annexation of Nanyue]] and other kingdoms situated in southern China. Goods imported or modelled on those from China, like bronze axes, have been excavated in Cambodia. An Eastern Wu embassy was sent from China to Funan in 228.<ref>{{cite book|first=Jacques|last=Gernet|title=A History of Chinese Civilization|year=1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-49781-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern_0/page/126 126–127, 196–197]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofchinese00gern_0/page/126}}</ref> A brief conflict is recorded to have happened in the 270s, when Funan and its neighbour, [[Lâm Ấp|Linyi]], joined forces to attack the area of [[Tonkin|Tongking]] (Vietnamese: Đông Kinh, "eastern capital"), located in what is now modern [[Northern Vietnam]] (which was a Chinese colony at the time).

Funan maintained diplomatic relations with the [[Murunda dynasty]] of northern [[Kalinga (historical region)|Kalinga]] during 3rd cen CE, when King Dhamadamadhara (Dharmatamadharasya) of Murunda received envoy Su-Wu who represented King Fan Chan of Funan (225–250 CE).<ref name="Pelliot" >{{cite journal |last=Pelliot |first=Paul |author-link1= Paul Pelliot |date=1903 |title=Le Fou-nan |url=http://www.persee.fr/doc/befeo_0336-1519_1903_num_3_1_1216 |access-date=12 April 2021 |language=fr |journal=Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient |volume=3 |page=292 |doi=10.3406/befeo.1903.1216 }}</ref><ref name="GCoedes" >{{cite book |last= Coedès |first= George |editor=Walter F. Vella |others=trans.Susan Brown Cowing |title=The Indianized States of Southeast Asia|url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/115019/2/b11055005.pdf |year=1968 |pages=46–47 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-0368-1 }}</ref><ref name="review" >{{citation |url=http://magazines.odisha.gov.in/Orissareview/2011/Nov/engpdf/32-38.pdf |title=Kalinga and Funan : A Study in Ancient Relations |author=Benudhar Patra |date=November 2011 |publisher=Orissa Review |access-date=4 April 2021 |archive-date=2 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230302022951/http://magazines.odisha.gov.in/Orissareview/2011/Nov/engpdf/32-38.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

According to Chinese sources, Funan was eventually conquered and absorbed by its vassal polity [[Chenla]] (pinyin: Zhēnlà). Chenla was a Khmer polity, and its inscriptions are in both Sanskrit and in Khmer. The last known ruler of Funan was Rudravarman ({{lang|zh-hant|留陁跋摩}}, pinyin: {{lang|zh-latn|Liútuóbámó}}) who ruled from 514 up to c. 545 CE.

The French historian [[Georges Coedès]] once hypothesized a relation between the rulers of Funan and the [[Shailendra dynasty]] of [[Indonesia]]. Coedès believed that the title of "mountain lord" used by the Sailendra kings may also have been used by the kings of Funan, since he also believed that the name "Funan" was a Chinese transcription related to the Khmer "phnom", which means "mountain."<ref>Cœdès, ''The Indianized States of Southeast Asia'', p.36.</ref> Other scholars have rejected this hypothesis, pointing to the lack of evidence in early Cambodian epigraphy for the use of any such titles.<ref>Vickery, ''Funan Reviewed'', pp.103, 132–133.</ref>

People who came from the coast of Funan are also known to establish [[Chi Tu]] (the Red Earth Kingdom) in the Malay Peninsula. The Red Earth Kingdom is thought to be a derivation nation of Funan with its own kind of Khmer culture.

==List of rulers of Funan==
{| class="wikitable"
! Order
! Sanskrit Name
! Names in Chinese Texts
! Reign
|-
| 01
| Neang Neak ([[Queen Soma]])
| Liǔyè ({{lang|zh-hant|柳葉}}) 
| align="centre" |1st/2nd century?
|-
| 02
| Preah Thong ([[Kaundinya I]])
| Hùntián ({{lang|zh-hant|混塡}}) / Hùnhuì ({{lang|zh-hant|混湏}})
| align="centre" |1st/2nd century
|-
| 03
| Unknown
| [[Pán Huàng]] / Hùnpánkuàng ({{lang|zh-hant|混盤況}})
| align="centre" |2nd century
|-
| 04
| Unknown
| Pánpán ({{lang|zh-hant|盤盤}})
| align="centre" |late 2nd century
|-
| 05
| [[Śrīmāraña]]
| Fàn Shīmàn ({{lang|zh-hant|范師蔓}})
| align="centre" |early 3rd century
|-
| 06
| Unknown
| Fàn Jīnshēng ({{lang|zh-hant|范金生}})
| align="centre" |c. 230?
|-
| 07
| Unknown
| Fàn Zhān ({{lang|zh-hant|范旃}})
| align="centre" |c. 230–c. 243 or later
|-
| 08
| Unknown
| Fàn Cháng ({{lang|zh-hant|范長}})
| align="centre" |after 243
|-
| 09
| Unknown
| Fàn Xún ({{lang|zh-hant|范尋}})
| align="centre" |245/250–287
|-
| colspan="4" align="center" |Unknown rulers
|-
| 10
| Candana
| Zhāntán ({{lang|zh-hant|旃檀}})
| align="centre" |c. 357
|-
| colspan="4" align="center" |Unknown rulers
|-
| 11
| Kaundinya II
| Qiáochénrú ({{lang|zh-hant|僑陳如}})
| align="centre" |c. 420
|-
| 12
| Sri Indravarman I
| Chílítuóbámó ({{lang|zh-hant|持梨陀跋摩}})
| align="centre" |c. 430–c. 440
|-
| colspan="4" align="center" |Unknown rulers
|-
| 13
| [[Jayavarman Kaundinya]]
| Qiáochénrú Shéyébámó ({{lang|zh-hant|僑陳如闍耶跋摩}})
| align="centre" |484–514
|-
| 14
| [[Rudravarman]]
| Liútuóbámó ({{lang|zh-hant|留陁跋摩}})
| align="centre" |514–c. 550
|-
|}

Source:<ref name="pelliot">{{Cite book |last=Sharan |first=Mahesh Kumar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8B886QamMBMC&pg=RA4-PA27 |title=Studies In Sanskrit Inscriptions Of Ancient Cambodia |publisher=Abhinav Publications |year=2003 |isbn=978-81-7017-006-8 |pages=27–28|language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Kattigara]]
* [[Mnong people]] 
* [[Angkor Borei and Phnom Da]] 
* [[Óc Eo]] 
* [[Cát Tiên archaeological site]]
* [[Suvarnabhumi]]
==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
* George Cœdès, ''The Indianized States of Southeast Asia'' (translated from the French by Susan Brown Cowing). Honolulu: East West Center Press, 1968
* George Cœdès, "Études Cambodgiennes XXV: Deux inscriptions sanskrites du Fou-nan",''Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême Orient'' XXXI (1931), pp.&nbsp;1–12
* Louis Finot, "Notes d'Épigraphie XI: Les Inscriptions de Mi-so'n", ''Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême Orient'' IV (1904), pp.&nbsp;918–925
* Karl-Heinz Golzio, "Kauṇḍinya in Südostasien", in Martin Straube, Roland Steiner, Jayandra Soni, Michael Hahn and Mitsuyo Demoto (eds.) ''Pāsādikadānaṁ. Festschrift für Bhikkhu Pāsādika'', Marburg: Indica et Tibetica Verlag 2009, pp.&nbsp;157–165
* Heinrich Hackmann, ''Erklärendes Wörterbuch zum chinesischen Buddhismus. Chinesisch-Sanskrit-deutsch. Von Heinrich Hackmann. Nach seinem handschriftlichen Nachlass überrbeitet von Johannes Nobel'', Leiden: E. J. Brill 1952
* Claude Jacques, "'Funan', 'Zhenla'. The reality concealed by these Chinese views of Indochina", in R. B. Smith and W. Watson (eds.), ''Early South East Asia: Essays in Archaeology, History, and Historical Geography'', New York, Oxford University Press, 1979, pp.&nbsp;371–9.
* Claude Jacques,‘Funan: a major early Southeast Asian State’, in ''The Khmer Empire: Cities and Sanctuaries, Fifth to Thirteenth Century'', translated by Tom White, Bangkok, River Books, 2007, pp.&nbsp;43–66.
* James C.M. Khoo (editor), ''Art & archaeology of Fu Nan: pre-Khmer Kingdom of the lower Mekong valley'', Bangkok, The Southeast Asian Ceramic Society, Orchid Press, 2003
* Lương Ninh, ''Vương quó̂c Phù Nam: lịch sử và văn hóa'' [Fu Nan: history and culture], Hà Nội, Viên văn hóa và Nhà xuât bản Văn hóa thông tin, 2005
* Lương Ninh, «Nước Chi Tôn», một quőc gia cở ở miển tây sông Hậu, ("Chi Tôn", an ancient state in the western bank of the Hậu river), ''Khảo cổ học'', ső 1, 1981, tr.38
* Pierre-Yves Manguin, "The archaeology of Fu Nan in the Mekong River Delta: the Oc Eo culture of Viet Nam", in Nancy Tingley and Andreas Reinecke, ''Arts of ancient Viet Nam: from River Plain to Open Sea'', Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, 2009, pp.&nbsp;100–118.
* Pierre-Yves Manguin, "From Funan to Sriwijaya: Cultural continuities and discontinuities in the Early Historical maritime states of Southeast Asia", in ''25 tahun kerjasama Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi dan Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient'', Jakarta, Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi / EFEO, 2002, p.&nbsp;59–82.
* {{cite journal |last= Pelliot |first= Paul | author-link1 = Paul Pelliot |date= 1903 |title=Le Fou-nan |url= http://www.persee.fr/doc/befeo_0336-1519_1903_num_3_1_1216| access-date = October 22, 2017 |language= fr |journal= Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient |volume= 3 |pages= 248–303 |doi=10.3406/befeo.1903.1216}}
* Miriam T. Stark, "From Funan to Angkor: Collapse and Regeneration in Ancient Cambodia", G. Schwartz, J. Nichols (eds.), ''After Collapse: The Regeneration of Societies'', University of Arizona Press, 2006, pp.&nbsp;144–167.[https://web.archive.org/web/20150923172421/http://www.anthropology.hawaii.edu/People/Faculty/Stark/pdfs/From_Funan_to_Angkor.pdf]
* Michael Vickery, ''Society, Economics, and Politics in pre-Angkor Cambodia: The 7th–8th centuries''. Tokyo: The Center for East Asian Cultural Studies for Unesco, The Toyo Bunko, 1998
* {{cite web|author=Michael Vickery|title=Funan reviewed: Deconstructing the Ancients.|publisher=Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême Orient|volume=XC-XCI|date=2003–2004|pages=101–143|url=https://cdn.angkordatabase.asia/libs/docs/publications/funan-reviewed-deconstructing-the-ancients/funan-reviewed-vickery.pdf|archivedate=3 December 2023|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203074603/https://cdn.angkordatabase.asia/libs/docs/publications/funan-reviewed-deconstructing-the-ancients/funan-reviewed-vickery.pdf}}
* An Giang Province Bureau of Culture, Sport and Tourism, Office of Cultural Heritage; An Giang Province Management Commission for Oc Eo Cultural Relics, ''Di Sản Văn Hóa Phù Nam-Óc Eo, An Giang-Việt Nam: Thế kỷ I-VII'' (Phu Nam-Oc Eo Heritage, An Giang-Vietnam: 1st–7th Century), [Long Xuyên], An Giang, 2013.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Funan}}
* [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+kh0014) Library of Congress Country Studies: Cambodia]
* [https://siddham.network/object/k5stele/ SIDDHAM : the Asia inscriptions database] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200623022837/https://siddham.network/object/k5stele/ |date=23 June 2020 }}

{{coord missing|Asia}}

[[Category:Funan| ]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 60s]]
[[Category:550 disestablishments]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 550s]]
[[Category:1st millennium in Cambodia]]
[[Category:Historical Chinese exonyms]]
[[Category:Tributaries of Imperial China]]