Yamanadvipa/ Yen-nio-na-cheu
650s – 1350s
Proposed location of Yamanadvipa, with the other five kingdoms in Mainland Southeast Asia mentioned byXuanzang in the 7th century.
Proposed locations of ancient kingdoms inMenam andMekong Valleys in the 7th century based on the details provided in the Chineseleishu,Cefu Yuangui, and others.
Capital	Yamanadvīpapura
Historical era	Post-classical era
• Established	650s
• Mentioned byXuanzang	7th century
• First envoy fromIndrapura	911
• Mentioned in Angkor source	1200s
• Last mentioned inChampa source	1306
• Disestablished	1350s
Preceded by Succeeded by Zhān Bó Wen Dan Lan Xang
Today part of	Thailand Laos

Yamanadvīpa—also rendered asYavanadvīpa or identified withJava—was an early polity in Mainland Southeast Asia, recorded under the nameYen-nio-na-cheu (閻摩那洲國) in the travel account of the Chinese Buddhist monkXuanzang during his pilgrimage in India.^{[1]: 200 [2]: 128–9} Xuanzang situates this kingdom to the west ofMo-ho-chan-po (Mahacampa), identifiable withLin-i,^{[2]: 128–9} and lists it among six realms located beyond the “deep seas,” enclosed by high mountains and rivers that were difficult to access from theGulf of Martaban.^[1]: 200 The otherMainland Southeast Asian kingdoms enumerated by Xuanzang includeSri Ksetra,Kamalanka,Dvaravati,Chenla, andChampa.^{[2]: 128–9} These six were considered to lie within the Jumukote or Yamakote (यमकोटि;यमकोटी), corresponding to the “Eastern Boundary” ofPtolemy’s cartographical representation ofJambudvipa.

The precise identification of Yamanadvīpa remains inconclusive.^[3]: 14 Yet its Sanskrit suffixdvīpa (Sanskrit:द्वीप), meaning “island” or “land surrounded by water,” has encouraged scholars to associate it with an insular or riverine setting. The elementyamana (Sanskrit:यमन), meaning “restraining,” “curbing,” or “governing,” has further complicated interpretive attempts. Some researchers equate Yamanadvīpa with Yavanadvīpa (Sanskrit:यवनद्वीप),^[3]: 14 noting that a “king of Yavana” appears in the Preah Khan inscription (K.908) ofJayavarman VII alongside the “king ofJava” and two rulers ofChampa.^{[4]: 62 [5]: 98} Earlier scholarship, however, equated “Yavana” withAnnam,^{[4]: 62 [5]: 98} though both this identification and the broader Khmer assertion of suzerainty over neighboring polities have recently been critically reassessed.^{[4]: 62–3}

In northernChampa, an inscription (C.149) records that two groups of senior officials of theIndrapura dynasty were dispatched toYavadvīpapura—the capital of the nearly synonymous kingdom ofYavadvīpa—on diplomatic missions in 833 Śaka (911 CE).^{[4]: 66, 75} Yavadvīpa appears again in inscription C.22, dated to 1228 Śaka (1305/1306 CE), which notes that a princess of the great king ofYavadvīpa became a chief queen of Champa. AlthoughYavadvīpa has sometimes been equated withJava in Indonesia,^{[4]: 71, 75} Champa inscriptions generally refer toJava explicitly asJavā. Thus, the identification ofYavadvīpa likewise remains unresolved.^{[4]: 67, 71}

There was also a kingdom with an almost identical name,Chawa orSawa (Lao:ຊວາ,pronounced[súa]) ofKhmu people, located northwest ofChampa, and borderedGotapura, centered atThakhek, to the south.^[6]: 13 These two polities may have been influenced by the culture ofDvaravati in central Thailand.^[6]: 13 Chawa was later conquered by the legendaryKhun Lo ofLao people in 698. The polity was thenTaificated and historically known asMuang Sua. It later evolved toLuang Prabang of theLan Xang kingdom in the 14th century.^[7]

Given Michael Vickery’s reinterpretation of the term “Java”—originally associated with the legacy ofJayavarman II—as referring to “theChams,”^[8]: 56 Yamanadvīpa may correspond to the inland Cham polity known in Chinese records asZhān Bó, whose hypothesized location aligns broadly with that of Yavanadvīpa. This interpretation is consistent with the hypothesis advanced by Tatsuo Hoshino, who argues that following the dissolution of theWen Dan (a trans-Mekong confederation of city-states) in the early ninth century, theIsan region of present-day Thailand entered a political phase he designates as “Java.”^{[9]: 61–2}

According to the LaotianPhra That Phanom Chronicle, the principal city ofChampasri and several subordinate settlements—together with the neighboring kingdom of Kuruntha, centered at Saket Nakhon (modernRoi Et)—were destroyed by KingFa Ngum ofLuang Prabang after he reunified the Lao realms in the mid-fourteenth century.^[10] Local traditions also maintain that the ruler of Champasri was closely related dynastically toMahendravarman, a king ofChenla.^[10]

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