Kulaprabhavati

Kulaprabhavati (6th-century), was a queen regnant of Funan in Cambodia in 514-517.^[1]

She was the first queen in Cambodia noted to have been an autonomous wielder of the ultimate political authority since the legendary queen Soma.

She was married to King Jayavarman Kaundinya of Funan, one of the first historically attested monarchs in Cambodian history. Kulaprabhavati is referred to in an inscription as ‘the great queen, principal spouse of King Jayavarman’. ^[2]

The Chinese account History of the Liang states that king Jayavarman of Funan died in 514, and ‘the son of a concubine, Rudravarman, killed his younger brother, son of the legitimate wife, and ascended the throne’.^[3]

It is attested that Jayavarman had another son named Gunavarman, and since all sincriptions mentioning Gunavarman and Kulaprabhavati are Vaishnavite, it is possible that Gunavarman was the son of queen Kulaprabhavati and king Jayavarman and the younger son murdered by his half brother Rudravarman, who appeares to have been a follover of Shiva rather than Vishnu.^[4]

In 517, king Rudravarman sent his first emissaries to China and was recongizned by China's emperor as the king of Funan. At this point, he lamented that his accession in Funan was contested. It appears that the death of king Jayavarman resulted in a three year long succession war between king Rudravarman and his stepmother queen Kulaprabhavati, who herself claimed the throne after the death of her spouse and was supported by some of the elite.^[5] The Chinese would not have recorded this, since female monarchs was something which was not possible in Chinese eyes prior to the accession of Empress Wu Zetian.

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