Po Rome

Po Rome is the second of the great deified kings of the Cham Ahier and the last powerful sovereign of independent Panduranga, whose historical reign fell in the second quarter of the seventeenth century. Cham tradition remembers him as a commoner who journeyed overseas to acquire magical learning before taking the throne, and as a peacemaker who wove together the Śaiva-rooted Ahier and the indigenized-Muslim Awal into the dual religious system that still defines Cham society. His fall is told as tragedy: married for alliance to a princess of the Nguyễn lords, he was persuaded by her feigned illness to cut down the sacred kraik tree that embodied his vital power; the tree bled, his strength failed, and he was taken captive by the Vietnamese, dying in bondage. His tower near Phước Hữu, the last monumental brick shrine Champa built, enshrines his image beside those of his queens and remains a centre of the Katê festival.

Domains

• kingship
• sovereignty

Powers

• reconciled the Ahier and Awal communities
• sought esoteric knowledge abroad

Relations

• spouse: Bia UtThe Vietnamese princess given to him in the 1631 alliance, recast in Cham legend as the queen whose deceit destroyed him.Po Dharma, 'Le Pāṇḍuraṅga' (1987); R. Nakamura, dissertation (1999) (secondary)

Sources

• Po Rome is a deified king of Panduranga (reigned c. 1627–1651) venerated as a yang at his tower, remembered for reconciling the Ahier and Awal communities.: Po Dharma, 'Le Pāṇḍuraṅga (Campā) 1802–1835' (1987); G. Maspero, 'Le royaume de Champa' (1928) (secondary)
• Legend holds that a Vietnamese queen tricked him into felling the sacred kraik tree that held his life-force, leading to his capture and death.: Sakaya, 'Văn hóa Chăm' (2010); R. Nakamura, dissertation (1999) (secondary)