Cambodian Art and Architecture

General Introduction

The site of Angkor was founded as the capital of a relatively unified Cambodia around 900 A.D. It continued as the capital of the Khmer nation until 1431, when it was abandoned as the ruler took the government south to Phnom Penh. By the 8th c., however, there were thousands of people already living at Angkor in at least one city, known to us by inscriptions as Indrapura. This city was located at the west end of Angkor. Among its more famous monuments is Ak Yom, the first pyramid-temple constructed in Cambodia (early 8th c.).

Between the 1st and 6th c. A.D., the focus of Khmer political and economic activity was in the southern half of the country. During that time irrigation techniques were perfected, there is evidence of some stone foundations for otherwise wooden buildings, and the kings began to adapt Indian gods such as Shiva and Vishnu, as well as Buddhism. The earliest statues date to the beginning of the 6th c. or so. Their style is distinctly Khmer, and not just a copy of Indian prototypes.

After the 6th c., the focus of power shifts to the central region of Cambodia, and brick temples start to appear on the scene. The temple complex at Sambor Prei Kuk has enclosing walls, some quincunx temple plans (a central temple and 4 intercardinal temples), stone lintels and door jambs, and related canals and ponds. All of these features will continue throughout the Angkor period.

In 802 A.D., King Jayavarman II (r. 802 - 834) is crowned king of an independent Cambodian nation. The ceremony takes place in the Kulen mountains to the north of Angkor. Perhaps as a function of this ceremony, the second pyramid-temple (Rong Chen) in Khmer history is constructed on top of Mt. Kulen. At the same time, the king institutes a devaraja cult - a form of worship that has been universally misinterpreted as the "god-king" cult. Rather than a cult meant to further glorify the king, the devaraja itself was a sacred image, perhaps a Shiva lingam, that was intended to establish its own supremacy over all of the regional gods in Cambodia. In that way, as the devaraja was taken to each successive capital with each successive king, no local gods could lay claim to hegemony in the region of the capital. Similarly, the king's own ancestral gods were subordinate to the devaraja. As the king stood in relation to his people, as his central temple stood in relation to all others, so stood the devaraja in relation to all regional and ancestral gods.

When a Khmer king came to power, he first had a royal obligation to construct hydraulic works such as irrigation canals and reservoirs to benefit his subjects. He then was bound by custom to set up small towers on a single platform to honor the preceding king(s) and/or his ancestors - normally one and the same. There were usually 3 towers along the front of the platform for the male ancestors of the king, and 3 towers in back for the female consorts of those ancestors. This custom lasted until 950 or so, at which time the ancestral towers began to be incorporated into the central royal temple.

The third obligation of the king was to establish a central pyramid-temple that would mark the heart of his capital. When the king died, it seems as though some of his ashes were buried under the main image in his pyramid-temple. His successor would then move the center of the capital to a slightly different location within the site of Angkor, and the process of constructing canals, reservoirs, ancestor temples, and a pyramid-temple would begin again.

Not all kings reigned long enough to construct a central temple in their capital, and in some cases, we are not sure where the central temple might have been. Nevertheless, the king's own deity was named for the king himself, and carried a suffix to indicate divinity. For example, an image named Indreshvara at the Bakong combined the name of the king, Indra varman, with a suffix indicated the divine Shiva: ishvara. The image would have been carved in the likeness of the king, and was sculpted with clothing and jewelry that royalty would also wear. According to inscriptions, a portion of the king's essence resided in the image, and a portion of the deity resided in the king. Cambodia is the only known nation on the planet which professed this unique royal-divine sharing between a statue and a king.

After Jayavarman II dies in 834, he is succeeded by an unknown Jayavarman IIa - an unrecorded son perhaps, who fills in the gap in time until we hear of Jayavarman III (r. 850-877). Please note that the numbers we give to the second or third or fourth Jayavarman are our own designations. To their subjects, they were known only as Jayavarman, and received different posthumous names at their death. These kings reigned at the site of Hariharalaya, the present-day Roluos, 25 minutes southeast to Angkor by car.

It was at Hariharalaya that King Indravarman I (r. 877-889) constructed the first pyramid temple to survive the centuries intact - the Bakong (881). Before that, however, he dedicated his own ancestral temple, Preah Ko (879) just a little to the north of it. These are two of the most impressive monuments in the Angkor region. The Bakong is built of a dark sandstone, and Preah Ko of brick, finished in stucco on the surface.

Around 900 A.D., King Yashovarman (r. 889-ca. 910) moved the capital into Angkor from Hariharalaya. After starting his own ancestral temple in a reservoir he built at the preceding capital, the king began work on his pyramid temple, Phnom Bakheng, at the heart of Angkor. Yashovarman also excavated the great Eastern Reservoir and set down irrigation canals. Future kings would continue to expand and improve the irrigation system. It is possible that one of his ministers constructed the Phimeanakas and dedicated it to Vishnu. The Phimeanakas is in a direct north-south alignment with the Bakheng, and in an east-west alignment with the center of the Eastern Reservoir.

Between 910 and 928, Yashovaraman's two sons succeeded him in quick order. One of them constructed the small pyramid-temple of Baksei Chamkrong, just next to the Bakheng. For reasons that may lost forever, Yashovarman's brother -in-law, Jayavarman IV (r. 928-943), moved the capital to Koh Ker, far beyond the Kulen mountains to the north. Angkor is basically deserted during that time. We do not know the reasons for this move. Was there an epidemic? There is no evidence of fighting, or of animosity between Jayavarman IV and his nephews.

In 944, King Rajendravarman (r. 944-968) - a possible nephew of Yashovarman - comes to power and moves the capital back to Angkor. He makes the unusual decision to build two major temples dedicated to Shiva, with the central image in each temple named after himself and Shiva. These temples, the East Mebon (952) and Pre Rup (961) were both constructed of brick.

In 968, brick construction ends for good at Angkor as the small jewel of an ancestor temple, Banteay Srei, is consecrated - it is constructed in sandstone. It was dedicated by two brothers, one of whom was a Brahman priest in the service of Rajendravarman.

Jayavarman V (r. 968-1001) may have burned down his father's royal palace and murdered him to gain the throne - that is the opinion of the French scholar, Claude Jacques. Prof. Jacques would like to excavate in the old palace area south of the Eastern Reservoir, in order to find proof for his theories. Thus far, excavation rights have been denied because the security of the area against thieves could not be guaranteed.

King Jayavarman V starts to build his own pyramid-temple, Takeo, at an odd location, almost alongside the western border of the great East Reservoir. There is no room for a large city to grow around the temple, and it is hard to see how the temple could have been at the center of anything. To add to the enigma of its location, is the fact that its upper 5 towers are made of an extremely hard sandstone that nearly defies carving. Why would this one temple at Angkor be constructed of two types of sandstone?

In answer to that question, Prof. Jacques has proposed that Jayavarman V died before Takeo was completed. Two men started a war for the throne of Cambodia on the death of Jayavarman V: Jayaviravarman and Suryavarman I. This civil war lasted for 10 years, between 1002 and 1011. Jayaviravarman controlled the Angkor region, while Suryavarman I controlled areas to the west, east, and northeast. Prof. Jacques proposes that Jayaviravarman could not obtain the necessary sandstone from the quarries on Mt. Kulen to complete Takeo because his access to the quarries was blocked by enemy troops. He would then look for other sources of sandstone to finish the upper towers.

King Suryavarman I (r. 1002-1050) won his civil war with Jayaviravarman, and gave the pyramid-temple of Takeo to his chief priest, Yogishvarapandita. There is a distinct problem with this gift because it is the only such gift in the history of Angkor. And it argues for the theory that Takeo was considered to be Jayaviravarman's temple - Suryavarman's defeated enemy. By giving his temple to a priest, Suryavarman would also have cut off worship of the deceased Jayaviravarman.

King Suryavarman I excavated the great Western Reservoir, and he added a vaulted corridor and probably a new central tower to the Phimeanakas. He had several irrigation projects, but never constructed a royal pyramid-temple in the nearly 40 years of peace during his reign. The vaulted corridor around the top gallery of the Phimeanakas and the vaulted corridor around the middle gallery of Takeo are the first such attempts at vaulting in Cambodia. Takeo's vaulting has fallen down, but some remains at the Phimeanakas.

The next major temple to be constructed after Takeo is the now ruinous Baphuon. It builder was King Udayadityavarman II (r. 1050-1066). This temple, although completely fallen down, was the prototype for the ground plan of the great Angkor Wat.

Towards the end of the 11th c., the dynasty changed hands and a new family came to power. That family had its roots in the northeastern part of modern-day Thailand, at that time a Khmer outpost. Since this area of Thailand has many Buddhist sanctuaries, it is thought that the family was primarily Buddhist. Two of Angkor's most famous kings were scions of this Mahidharapura dynasty: Suryavarman II (r. 1113- ca.1150) and Jayavarman VII (r. 1181- ca.1220).

King Suryavarman II came to power by killing the preceding king, his great-uncle, in a battle that lasted for one day. Suryavarman may have been only 14 years old at the time, as his age is stated as being "very young, at the end of his studies." He is known to history for his one outstanding accomplishment: the temple of Angkor Wat. Angkor Wat is also a solar and lunar observatory, and calendrical cycles and historical dates are recorded in its measurements. (See Eleanor Mannikka, Angkor Wat: Time, Space, and Kingship, University of Hawaii Press, 1996.) For the first time in Khmer history, the king himself was portrayed in the sculpted scenes on the walls of the temple. Now the exploits of the king take their place among the heroic deeds of the gods. Politics has begun to usurp religion.

Jayavarman VII emerged as king in 1181 after 4 years of war and chaos at Angkor. The capital had been invaded by Cham armies in 1177 (the Chams are from the central area of Vietnam), and Jayavarman VII had to rout the Chams and reclaim Angkor. Perhaps as a consequence of the continued threat from foreign enemies, the king put guardian faces on the towers of his pyramid-temple, the Bayon. These enormous faces look outward in the four directions of the compass, protecting the temple and the gods inside its sanctuaries.

The wall around the city was also strengthened and refurbished. Huge gateways into the city were given two sets of wooden doors to keep out intruders, and the gates were closed at night. The king practiced Mahayana Buddhism, but was ready to defend the city if necessary.

Before completing the Bayon temple, the king built the temple of Ta Prohm for his deceased mother (consecrated in 1186), and the temple of Preah Khan for his father in the guise of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion (1191). Thus, rather than building one separate ancestor temple with small towers for his mother and father (and his father never ruled, in fact), the king chose to dedicate these two vast complexes to his parents.

King Jayavarman VII had a heightened sense of Khmer history - and of his place in the long sequence of kings listed above. The Bayon temple particularly details the history of the king in its bas-reliefs - much more so than Angkor Wat - and the measurements of the temple appear to record historical dates (Mannikka, unpublished research).

For the last 20 years of his long reign, we do not hear very much about the king at all. Only 3 inscriptions date from that period, and this has led to speculation that Jayavarman may have contracted a lingering illness. In 1297, the Chinese traveler Zhou Daguan visited Angkor and mentioned in his journal that the people talked about a "leper king." Could Jayavarman VII have been that king? Hopefully, further research into the king's unusual monuments will help to resolve that question.

After Jayavarman VII died around 1220 or so, Angkor had a series of kings that began to lean more and more to the practice of Theravadan or Hinayana Buddhism. In the mid-13th c. there was a brief Shaivite resurgence - Buddha images at the Bayon were effaced or recut into Shiva lingam - but the resurgence did not last long. With the demise of Hinduism and of Mahayana Buddhism, the old ancestral and regional gods that once filled the king's royal temples were abandoned. All monumental temple architecture stops after 1220, and the glory that was Angkor begins to fade into a dim, collective memory of legendary rulers and exploits.

Thai armies had invaded Angkor several times in the 14th and 15th centuries, leaving with captured prisoners and sacred statues. Because of the constant Thai incursions, and perhaps because the riverine area around Phnom Penh offered a much better access to international trade, the Khmers moved their capital south in 1431. About 100 years after that date, King Ang Chan sent artisans to carve out the two northeastern panels of bas-reliefs at Angkor Wat. It was during the 15th-17th centuries that foreign envoys first came to Angkor: Portuguese, Japanese, and other travelers described the site in journals and drawings. It was not until 1850 or so that the first French explorer went to Angkor, and 10 years later, the site was made famous in the western world by the Frenchman Henri Mouhot. Angkor was on its way to becoming one of the world's most renowned archaeological wonders.