ofthe SAME TREE

uplanders in Champa is seen in their role as the guardians of the royal treasures
and in the inclusion of their major figures among the venerated Cham
ancestors. 101
Because the relationships between the various river valley/upland Cham
polities varied according to circumstances, they were as likely to be rivals as
allies. There were some Cham groups that were forced to settle outside the
primary Cham centers. One group went south to the Vietnamese highlands
and became the Northern Roglai, while others took flight after Indrapura was
destroyed by the Vietnamese in 982 and went northward to Guangzhou and
Hainan to become the ancestors of the Tsai speakers of Hainan. 102 The decision
of one of the groups to go to Guangzhou was most likely influenced by
its familiarity with the Chams. The Cham lands formed the terminus closest
to China (with the exception of Vietnam, which was part of China until the
beginning of the tenth century CE), and therefore would have had far greater
contact with that land than with any group on the international east-west
trade network.
According to Ming dynastic records, 103 the southern Cham polity of Vijaya
was invaded by the Vietnamese in February and March 1471, and its king
and many others were taken prisoner. 104 The Sejarah Melayu records an incident
that is quite probably a reference to Vijaya’s seizure by the Vietnamese.
A Cham polity referred to as “Yak” is invaded by “Kuchi,” a word C. C. Brown
claims is “always used on the East Coast of Malaya for Indo-China.” 105 Through
a treasonous act, Yak is destroyed and the ruler killed. His two sons and their
ministers flee the land, one son going to Aceh and the other to Melaka. 106 Perhaps
linked to these earlier events is a statement in the Ming chronicles under
the date 1487 that mentions a dynastic struggle between the son of the former
ruler of Vijaya and a son of a deceased chieftain who had earlier supported
the Vietnamese. 107 After the seizure of Vijaya in 1471 there was a flight of
Chams to the highlands, Hainan, Guangzhou, Melaka, Aceh, Java, Thailand,
and Cambodia. The flight of Chams to Aceh in the fifteenth century would
have been the second such exodus, the first occurring after the destruction of
Indrapura in 982. The cultural affinity among the polities that formed the Sea
of Malayu would have facilitated movements of groups such as the Chams to
the Malayu areas. 108
Their proximity to China made the Cham polities a particularly valuable
link in this common sea. Ming records indicate that in the first half of the fifteenth
century Champa was still an important part of the international trade
route between India and China. Its links were particularly strong with Melaka
and Samudera/Pasai, two major ports in the Straits of Melaka where traders
from the Middle East and India stopped before proceeding on to China. In
1438 the Ming records speak of trade and diplomatic ties between Champa
Malayu Antecedents 45