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Jayavarman III (834 - 877 A.D.)
After the death of the first Khmer
king, his son Jayavarman III succeeded the throne and reigned for about
40 years. Little account was known about this king, except his story of
hunting the white elephants in two circumstances and he could probably
build the Prei Monti temple.
He was the third king of the Angkor
kingdom after Jayavarman III, and was regarded as the first great
builder of the Khmer king. How Indravarman I ascended the throne still
remains in mystery as he did not seem to have any connection with the
two former kings. Indravarman I was a strong man, expanding his
territory vigorously throughout Cambodia and moving his capital from
Harilaraya to Roluos, about thirteen kilometers east of the present
Siemreap town.
Indravarman I built at least two
primitive Khmer temples, namely the Preah Ko temple, devoted for his
royal ancestral spirits, and the Bakong, a mountain temple dedicated for
the Hindu gods. These two temples with another later one Lolei are
collectively known as the Roluos Group, and their architecture was more
or less a pioneer to the later temples of the Angkor civilization.
Indravarman I also built a large reservoir named Indratataka.
After succeeding the throne in 889 A.D,
Yasovarman I built a new Angkor capital called Yasodharapura, located
not far away from Roluos on the vast plain of Siemreap and about eight
kilometers north of the the Great Lake Tonle Sap. At the center of this
capital was the Phnom Bakeng Hill on top of which a temple was built
with its galleries branching out in four directions to represent the
heavenly residence of Hindu gods with the central Mount Meru and the
other four sacred peaks.
Yasovarman I built one of the largest
reservoirs in the Angkor Kingdom known as East Baray or
"Yasohodharataka", with a length of 7.5 kilometers, a width of 1.83
kilometer and approximate depth of 4-5 meters. The water capacity of
East Baray was estimated at 55 million cubic meters, and this water was
used to irrigate over 8,000 hectares of farmland. Sanskrit inscriptions
were found on the stele at each corner of the East Baray to praise the
Hindu goddess Ganga, being revered in India as the river-mother goddess
of the great Ganges River.
About half a kilometer south of East
Baray, Yasovarman I built four ashramas which were the retreating
residence of the serious religious believers. Apart from carrying out
religious practice, each abbot of the ashramas was found to be somewhat
like the manager of the king to help in controlling the water of the
East Baray.
Today the East Baray is completely dry,
and the four ashramas disappear. The Pre Rup temple was built on top
of one of these ashramas.
After the death of Yasovarman I, his
son Harshavarman I became the next king who ruled over the Angkor for
more than a decade. The two monuments built during Harshavarman I were
the Baksei Chamkrong, a laterite temple north-east of Phnom Bakheng, and
Prasat Kravan, built of bricks dedicated to god Vishnu. The reign was
followed by his brother Isanavarman II whose historical record was null.
Possibly Jayavarman IV descended from
the different maternal line of his preceding king and already held some
power at Koh Ker since 921 A.D. When Isanavarman II died in 928,
Jayavarman IV ascended the throne and move the capital to his town of
Koh Ker which was about 90 kilometers north of the Angkor. At his new
capital, Jayavarman IV had constructed an obscure Rahal Baray,
untraditionally lying north-south direction, and difficult to engineer.
It seems that the sandstone was first introduced as the building
materials of the Khmer monuments during this time, as the 7-story
pyramid built by this king as his state temple was made up of
sandstones. Koh Ker remained as the capital for a short period of about
15 years.
He was the son of Jayavarman IV, but
was not the designated crown prince. Harshavarman II ascended the throne
by force with the help of his cousin who later would become the next
king. During the reign of Harshavarman II, repetitive unrests and
rebels broke out and could possibly cause the death of this king.
As soon as Harshavarman II died, his
cousin Rajendravarman II grasped the power and mounted the throne. He
returned to Angkor as his capital, and started to build the
mountain-temple of Pre Rup which was sited on top the ashramas installed
by Yasovarman I.
Attaining his kingship in an
unrighteous way, Rajendravarman II encountered difficulties in keeping
his crown as successive rebellions from his rivals occurred during his
reign. To acquire strong supports, Rajendravarman II reordered the state
by dividing the kingdom into vishaya or provinces whose rulers were his
loyal chieftains.
Interestingly, a new myth of Khmer
ancestors - Kambu and Mera, first appeared in the stone inscription
during this time and was totally different from that of Brahmin
Kaundinya and naga princess Soma. This myth praised the legendary
Kambu's couple exorbitantly as the Khmer ancestors and the word
"Kambuja" means the descendant of Kambu. Probably this legend had been
in existence for a long time since the period of Chenla, but was first
picked up by Rajendravarman II as his ancestors since he needed some
sort of medium to persuade the people of his right to the throne.
Evidently, Rajendravarman II had a
strong military power as he did not only wage civil war with his rivals,
but even sacked the Champa Kingdom located to the east in modern
Vietnam and the Thai tribal states to the west.
He was the son of Rajendravarman II and
succeeded the supreme throne after his father in 968 A.D. Jayavarman V
had to fight vigorously with other princes in order to maintain his
kingship. For some reasons, he built a new capital at the vicinity of
Angkor and named it "Jayendranagari" with the meaning of "the Capital of
the Triumphant Monarch", which implied his victory over the enemies.
During his reign, two major complex were constructed, i.e. Banteay Srei
and Takeo. |
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