Samriddhipuri

Samriddhipuri is the Cham name of the An Khê valley, an inland basin in the highlands of central Vietnam on the route between the coast at Quy Nhơn and the Bahnar and Jarai uplands. The name means “City of Prosperity”, and an inscription from the reign of the Cham king Virabhadravarman, who later took the regnal name Indravarman, calls the valley by it.

The city was founded in 1409, after the Ming defeated the Hồ dynasty in 1407 and the Chams won back the lands south of the Hải Vân Pass. The king raised a seated Śiva at Drang Lai in what is now Gia Lai and used the valley to extend Cham influence into the highlands, drawing on forest products and on the highland peoples who lived there. He ruled from 1400 to 1441.