|
Being a Khmer prince, Jayavarman VII
was formerly a chieftain since the time of Yasovarman II and ruled over a
Champa province or vishaya which was under the Angkor's authority.
When the Chams seized the Angkor in 1177, Jayavarman VII determined to
fight against the intruders and was able to re-capture the Angkor's
capital Yasodharapura, where he ascended the throne in 1181. The war
with the Champa kingdom did not terminate immediately but continued for
another twenty years. In 1203, Jayavarman VII had a final victory and
conquered the Champa kingdom.
Jayavarman VII was the last greatest
king of the Angkor. Not only liberalizing and unifying the country, he
was also a profound builder with the marvelous achievement in building
the new capital of Angkor Thom, lying on the plain of Siemreap north of
Angkor Wat. At the center of Angkor Thom is the Bayon Temple, famous
for its distinct 50 towers, each bearing the large faces of Bodhisattva
Avalokiteshavara (a lord Buddha) on the four sides. These faces are
thought to be copied from the actual face of Jayavarman VII, and whose
smiles are so gentle that it is often referred to as "the Khmer smile".
This great king was a devout Buddhist of the Mahayana sect.
In addition to Angkor Thom and Bayon,
Jayavarman VII also built other impressive temples and monuments such as
Ta Phrom, Banteay Kdei, Neak Pean, and Sras Srang.
Moreover, Jayavarman VII constructed an
extensive road network throughout his empire and thus linked all the
major towns to Angkor. This efficient road system facilitated the
transportation of agricultural products and goods. Along these roads,
this great and benevolent king had also built 121 resting houses to
accommodate the travelers and the officials, and 102 hospitals to
accommodate the sick.
The reign of Jayavarman VII was marked
as the peak period of the Angkor Empire as well as of the Khmer
Civilization, which began to decline gradually after the death of this
great king in 1219 A.D.
The supreme throne was succeeded by
Jayavarman VII's son - Indravarman II who was also a devout Buddhist.
Perhaps many of the great works of temples' construction initiated by
Jayavarman VII were continued and completed by Indravarman II.
Interestingly, few historical records about this king remains and
probably were destroyed by his enemy who was his successor.
It was quite obvious that the Angkor
power began to decline almost immediately. In 1220, the Khmers
retreated from many of the Champa states that they had conquered
earlier. At the same time, the Thai state succeeded to drive away the
Khmer from the western frontier and established the first Thai kingdom
of Sukhothai, whose descendants were to become the major threats to the
Angkor Empire in the next two centuries.
It could have been a bad luck for some
portions of Khmer history that Jayavarman VIII became the king by
abducting the throne from his predecessor. Jayavarman VIII was a strong
believer in Hinduism, but a brutal enemy to Buddhism. He was responsible
for the massive destruction of the Buddha statues in the empire, the
number of which was estimated to be over tens of thousands and very few
remained. The main Buddha statue in the central shrine of Bayon was
replaced with the Hindu god Harihara and that Buddha statue was found to
be sliced into three pieces. Innumerable number of Buddha images in
the other temples such as Banteay Kdei, Ta Prohm, Preah Khan and etc.
met with the same fate but being completely destroyed. Moreover,
Jayavarman VIII was also found to transform many Buddhist temples into
the Hindu ones, so it was not surprising if he were to carry out the
similar practice of erasing his predecessors' historical records.
During the reign of Jayavarman VIII,
the Mongol troops of Kublai Khan attacked the border of Angkor Empire
from the east in the year 1283. Jayavarman VIII was wise enough not to
wage any war with the invincible Mongols at that time. He decided to pay
tributes instead and thus his empire survived. This could possibly be
the only credit this king had during his reign.
In 1295, Jayavarman VIII and his tyrannical regime was overthrown by his own son-in-law Srindravarman who was a Buddhist.
He was a devout Buddhist, not of the
Mahayana sect but the Theravada one. The first inscription engraved in
Pali indicated that the royal family had adopted Theravada Buddhism as
their main religion, and thus the king was no longer regarded as
deva-raja or "god-king". Theravada Buddhism was introduced from Sri
Lanka (Ceylon) and gradually infiltrated into every level of the people.
In 1296, Zhou Daguan, the Chinese
ambassador from Yuan Dynasty (Mongol), visited Angkor Empire and wrote
an important historical document in Chinese Chronicle about the Khmer,
especially the everyday life of the normal people which significantly
help us to have a better and clearer picture of this civilization. Zhou
Daguan returned to China in 1297. |
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment