Note 246 — Chapter XXXVIII

The Sui annals (Pelliot, Founan, p. 272) state that "Chên-la lies to the west of Lin-yi: it was originally a vassal state of Fu-nan.... The name of the king's family was Kshatriya: his personal name was Citrasena: his ancestors progressively acquired the sovereignty of the country: Citrasena seized Fu-nan and reduced it to submission." This seems perfectly clear and we know from Cambojan inscriptions that Citrasena was the personal name of the king who reigned as Mahendravarman, c. 600 A.D. But it would appear from the inscriptions that it was his predecessor Bhavavarman who made whatever change occurred in the relations of Camboja to Fu-nan and in any case it is not clear who were the inhabitants of Fu-nan if not Cambojans. Perhaps Maspéro is right in suggesting that Fu-nan was something like imperial Germany (p. 25), "Si le roi de Bavière s'emparait de la couronne impériale, rien ne serait changé en Allemagne que la famille régnante."