Gān Bì

Gān Bì (Chinese: 甘毕) was a medieval petty Tai kingdom mentioned in the Chinese New Book of Tang and the leishu Cefu Yuangui, located east of Champa. Hoshino proposes that it situated in the central Mekong Valley in modern Mukdahan province–Savannakhet province. In an earlier study, the same scholar alternatively proposed a location in the Tonlé Sap basin or, failing that, in the area of modern Sakon Nakhon, and further hypothesized that its ruler may have been the father of Jayavarman I (r. 657–681) of Chenla.

Together with Xiū Luó Fēn and Gē Luó Shě Fēn, Gān Bì was grouped in a single category in the New Book of Tang and indicates that the customs of each resemble those of the others, such as their kings and fortifications. Gān Bì has only 5,000 elite soldiers, a much smaller number when compared to its other two brother kingdoms, which have 20,000 each. Its king was named Chandravarman (旃陀越摩).

However, the most recent proposed location, Mukdahan–Savannakhet, appears geographically too distant from its two allied kingdoms, Xiū Luó Fēn and Gē Luó Shě Fēn, situated in the Menam Valley and within the Dvaravati sphere of influence, whereas the proposed region of Gān Bì during the same period was instead strongly shaped by Champa cultural and economic influences. Interestingly, the term Gān Bì sounds similar to Kosambi (Mo Suea Tob Archaeological Site in modern Kosamphi Nakhon district), mentioned in the Northern Chronicle as one of the seven polities established under the authority of Lavo's king Kalavarnadisharaja, during the peak of the Dvaravati civilization.