The crest of the Annamite chain and its western spurs, where the road from Angkor (57 houses with fire on the roads to Champa in the stele of 1191) climbs from the Se San to the Cham highlands.
The war is ten years old. The Khmer took Vijaya in 1190 and carried off Jaya Indravarman IV; the Cham prince raised at Angkor, Vidyanandana, turned on his patron and killed the old king in 1191 or 1192 and now rules Vijaya in his own name. Armies came this way in the campaign years and something must be kept open. Who holds the passes and the hill villages on 1 January 1200 is not known; the highlanders (Jarai, Bahnar, Sedang and their neighbours, the Vietnam and Champa researcher's peoples) pay whoever's army is nearest.
The fall of Vijaya to the Khmer under the yuvaraja On Dhanapatigrama (1203) and Champa as a Khmer province are later. The ground east of the crest is the Vietnam and Champa researcher's.
Who holds it
- Title
- None: the ground is held by hill villages and crossed by the armies of two courts
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
English Wikipedia (Champa) gives the Khmer attacks on the Cham country as 1190, 1192, 1194-1195 and 1198-1203 and the Khmer taking of Vijaya in 1190; the campaign board has 1193 and 1194. No source places either army on 1 January 1200. The Dai Viet recognition of Vidyanandana in 1199 is the campaign board's alone and unverified (the Vietnam and Champa researcher's side).
Overlord
Disputed: Angkor on the west, the Cham prince Vidyanandana (Suryavarmadeva in the Cham stelae) at Vijaya on the east.
What it holds
- The passes of the crest and the road to Vijaya
- Hill villages that pay whoever's army is nearest
How things stand that morning
At war since 1190; no battle or army is placed on the crest in the winter. Truce: none known.
Military
Armies on both sides move by this road; no numbers are known.
Threats
- A Khmer expedition in the dry season of 1200 (campaign years 1198 to 1203)
- A Cham attack down the valleys
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1203A Khmer army under the yuvaraja On Dhanapatigrama takes Vijaya and Champa becomes a Khmer province.Depends on: The war continuing and Khmer strength. Stopped by: A Cham victory, a truce, or the old king's incapacity.
- 1220 or 1226The Khmer withdraw from Champa.Depends on: Khmer exhaustion and Cham recovery. Stopped by: Continued Khmer strength.
Places of note
- Se San crossing: Ford on the road to Vijaya (a guess from the river and the ground).
- The Annamite crossing: Saddle country where the tracks climb the chain.
Where the sources disagree
- Board: Khmer attacks in 1193 and 1194; English Wikipedia: 1190, 1192, 1194-1195 and 1198-1203. We use the Wikipedia years and say that nothing is placed on 1 January 1200.
- The campaign board entry the-annamite-crossing and se-san-crossing: reconstruction; no Khmer source describes the march.
Evidence: Campaign years from a Wikipedia summary of Cham and Vietnamese sources; no document places a force on the crest.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: A block on the western flank of the crest; the Vietnam and Champa researcher draws the eastern side.
Sources and studies
- English Wikipedia, Champa
- English Wikipedia, Jayavarman VII
- OMNIA board notes for the Khmer and Lao area (a lead, not a source)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.