Jayavarman II
(c. 770–834), founder of the unified Khmer state. Jayavarman II, a mysterious figure who left no inscriptions of his own, is credited with the foundation of a unified Khmer state in what is now Cambodia. Jayavarman II was often mentioned in the inscriptions of his successors, who regarded him as the founder of what became the powerful Angkorean kingdom. Scholars have established that when he was about twenty years old, Jayavarman came from Java and declared his independence from the Javanese kingdom. His early career combined military conquests and the formation of strategic alliances in which local powers transferred some of their influence to the newcomer.
The Sdok Kak Thom inscription, incised in the eleventh century, gives the details of what would later become Jayavarman's most enduring legacy. According to the inscription, in the year 802 CE, Jayavarman initiated a ritual whereby he became a "universal monarch." The ritual celebrated the cult of the devaraja, or "god king," which was associated with the Hindu divinity Siva. As Siva was a creator, keeper, and destroyer of worlds, the king assumed the role of an intermediary between the cosmic world and the world of human existence. Notions of a "universal monarch" and a "god king" endured to transcend the political culture of modern Cambodia.
Further Reading
Chandler, David. (1993) A History of Cambodia. 2d ed. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
Mabbett, Ian, and David Chandler. (1995) The Khmers. Oxford: Blackwell.
Rooney, Dawn F. (1994) Angkor: Temples of Cambodia's Kings. Lincolnwood, IL: Passport Books.
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