Jayavarman VII

Jayavarman VII (Khmer: ព្រះបាទជ័យវរ្ម័នទី៧, lit. 'victory armor'), known posthumously as Mahaparamasaugata (1122–1218), was king of the Khmer Empire. He was the son of King Dharanindravarman II (r. 1150–1160) and Queen Sri Jayarajacudamani. He was the first Khmer king devoted to Buddhism; only one other had been a Buddhist. He built the Bayon as a monument to Buddhism. Historians generally consider Jayavarman VII the most powerful of the Khmer monarchs. His government built many projects, including hospitals, highways, rest houses, and temples. With Buddhism as his motivation, Jayavarman VII is credited with introducing a welfare state that served the Khmer people's physical and spiritual needs.

Defeat of the Cham and coronation

In 1177, Champa King Jaya Indravarman IV launched the battle of Tonlé Sap on the Khmer capital by sailing a fleet up the Mekong River, across Lake Tonlé Sap, and up the Siem Reap River, a tributary of the Tonle Sap. The invaders pillaged the Khmer capital of Yasodharapura and put king Tribhuvanadityavarman to death. The Chams occupied Cambodia for the next four years.

Early in his reign, he probably repelled another Cham attack and quelled a rebellion of the vassal Kingdom of Malyang (Battambang). He was greatly helped by the military skill of refugee Prince Sri Vidyanandana, who also played a part in the subsequent sacking and conquest of Champa (1190–1191). Jayavarman expanded Khmer control of the Mekong Valley northward to Vientiane and southward down the Kra Isthmus.

Public works and monuments Bronze replica of one of the twenty-three stone images King Jayavarman VII sent to different parts of his kingdom in 1191. The Walters Art Museum. Over the 37 years of his reign, Jayavarman embarked on a grand program of construction that included both public works and monuments. As a Mahayana Buddhist, his stated aim was to alleviate his people's suffering. One inscription tells us, "He suffered from the warts of his subjects more than from his own; the pain that affected men's bodies was for him a spiritual pain, and thus more piercing." This declaration must be read in light of the fact that the numerous monuments Jayavarman erected must have required the labor of thousands of workers, and that his reign was marked by the centralization of the state and the herding of people into ever greater population centers.

Historians have identified many facets of Jayavarman's intensive building program. In one phase, he focused on useful constructions, such as his famous 102 hospitals, Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit caution that the list is not by itself evidence of rule: without corroborating evidence of military or administrative power, a better characterisation of the sending of the images is cultural diplomacy. David K. Wyatt adds that the inscription records roads with rest houses running east to Champa and north to Vimāya, modern Phimai, but names no road running west.

Ta Prohm In 1186, Jayavarman dedicated Ta Prohm ("Ancestor Brahma") to his mother. An inscription indicates that the temple at one time had 80,000 people assigned to its upkeep, including 18 high priests and 615 female dancers. called in its day Indrapattha. At the centre of the new city stands one of Jayavarman's biggest achievements—the temple now called the Bayon, a multifaceted, multi-towered temple that mixes Buddhist and Hindu iconography. Its outer walls have bas reliefs of warfare and of the everyday life of the Khmer army and its followers. They show camp followers on the move with animals and oxcarts, hunters, women cooking, female traders selling to Chinese merchants, and celebrations of common foot soldiers. The reliefs also depict a naval battle on the great lake, the Tonle Sap.

Chronology Jayavarman VII is commonly depicted with both his arms amputated. King Suryavarman (Sun Shield) II, builder of Angkor Wat, died in 1150. He was succeeded by Dharanindravarman II, who ruled until 1160. Due to the absence of Jayavarman VII, Yashovarman II succeeded the throne, but was overthrown by Tribhuvanadityavarman (Protegee of the Sun of three worlds), assumed to be a usurper. In 1177, the Chams, led by Jaya Indravarman IV, invaded and Angkor was sacked. Nonetheless, this date, and the event itself, have been questioned by Michael Vickery, who doubts the reliability of the Chinese sources for this period. In 1181 Jayavarman VII became king after leading the Khmer forces against the Chams. He was succeeded by Indravarman II, who died by 1243. Indravarman was succeeded by Jayavarman VIII, a Shivaite. He embarked on the destruction or defacement of Jayavarman VII's Buddhist works. The niches along the top of the wall around the city contained images of the Buddha, and most were removed, as were the statue of Buddha at Bayon and the Buddha images in Angkor Thom, which were converted into linga.

In popular culture A fictionalised account of Jayavarman VII's life is the basis of one thread of Geoff Ryman's 2006 novel The King's Last Song.

Jayavarman VII is a playable character in the 4X video game Civilization VI, where he leads the Khmer civilization.