Po Rattiraydaputao Explained

Po Rattiraydaputao
King of Champa King of Panduranga
Issue:Po Tisundimahrai
Birth Date:?
Birth Place:Champa
Death Date:1763
Death Place:Bal Pangdurang (Phan Rí)
Succession:King of Champa
Reign:1735–1763
Predecessor:Po Thuntiraidaputih
Successor:Po Tisundimahrai

Po Rattiraydaputao (died 1763), also known as Po Rattirai da putih or Rat da patau, was a King of the Panduranga Kingdom of Champa (in Vietnamese, Thuân Thành) who ruled from 1735 to 1763. He reigned under the increasing pressure of Vietnamese domination and migration into Cham lands, but his time was peaceful apart from an incident in 1746.

Po Rattiraidaputao was a grandson of a former ruler, Po Saktiraydapatih. The Po Rome Dynasty split in two branches in the early 18th century, and Po Rattiraydaputao was nominated as ruler by the Nguyễn lord after the demise of Po Thuntiraidaputih who belonged to the elder branch. However, his reign only started in 1735.[1] Unlike the previous short-lived rulers, he had a long reign of 28 years. The relations with the Nguyễn court were downgraded after 1728, since all transactions with the Vietnamese authorities were done via the Vietnamese prefectures of Binh Khang and Binh Thuân. There were rarely direct contacts with the Nguyễn court in Phu Xuan (Huế).[2] The French visitor Pierre Poivre wrote about the regular tributes that the Cham ruler, as well as the King of Cambodia and various uphill groups, were forced to dispatch to Phu Xuan every year. He also noted the arrogance with which the ruler Võ Vương treated the tribute envoys from Champa. A short-lived anti-Vietnamese rebellion was launched by two Cham leaders called Duong Bao Lai and Diêp Mã Lang in 1746. They led followers in an attack on Trấn Biên, but they were swiftly defeated by the local garrison force.[3] Po Rattiraydaputao was probably not involved since he continued reigning.

For Europeans, Champa was, in spite of its reduced size and close dependency on the Vietnamese, still counted as a polity of its own. On the map of eastern Asia by Covens & Mortier (1760), "Ciampa" is indicated as a polity between Cambodia and Cochinchina (the Nguyễn domain). The map mainly has nautical information like capes and bays, indicating that European merchants seldom visited the port towns.[4]

Po Rattiraydaputao passed away in 1763 and was succeeded as ruler by his son Po Tisundimahrai, the only father-to-son succession in Champa since the early 17th century.[5]

Notes and References

  1. Étienne Aymonier (1889) "Grammaire de la langue chame. XXIV: Traduction de la chronique royale", Excursions et reconnaissances 14, p. 91.https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5628667q/f94.item
  2. Danny Wong Tze Ken (2011) "Vietnam-Champa Relations during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries", in Tran Ky Phuong & Bruce M. Lockhart (eds) The Cham of Vietnam: History, Society and Art. Singapore: NUS Press, p. 255.
  3. Danny Wong Tze Ken (2011) "Vietnam-Champa Relations during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries", in Tran Ky Phuong & Bruce M. Lockhart (eds) The Cham of Vietnam: History, Society and Art. Singapore: NUS Press, p. 256.
  4. Pierre-Emmanuel Bachelet (2017) "Cartographies croisées de Campa moderne: Un royaume d'Asie du Sud-Est au coeur de la première mondialisation des savoirs géographiques", Péninsule 74, p. 74-7.
  5. Étienne Aymonier (1889) "Grammaire de la langue chame. XXIV: Traduction de la chronique royale", Excursions et reconnaissances 14, p. 91.https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5628667q/f94.item