Brief History of Khmer Dynasty.

DISCLAIMER: I am not going too much into details , just mentioning only the famous khmer kings and famous temples built during their rule. Just to give an idea of the incredible Khmer dynasty. This blog will definitely help you understand the history of the Khmer dynasty.Regarding history of the temples I’ll explain later in my upcoming blogs.

The history of the Khmer kings is explained in chronological order below:
• The dynasty of khmer ( pronounced as Kuh Mai)became prominent from the end of 8 th century,when King Jayavarman II declared himself as the supreme sovereign in 790 and built his capital at present day Rolous earlier called Hariharalaya, which he later relocated to present day Kulen Mountain( earlier called Mahendra Parbat),30 km North-East of Angkor due to few unforeseen setbacks
• Jayavarman II took many years before he became strong enough to move the capital back to Hariharalaya.( All this happened around the timeline 802).He then died in 835.
• His son Jayavarman III succeeded him on his death. It is he who built the pyramid of Bakong.
• Indravarman I took the throne next , he further improvised the Bakong temple by cladding it with sandstone and it was during his reign that the temple of Preah Ko was built as he remodeled his capital.
• Yasovarman I succeeded Indravarman I and took the thrown in 889 .Since the succession to the throne involved violence with his brother ,leading to destruction of the Kingdom. He decided to shift his capital to present day Bakheng and called his new city – City of Yasodharapura. It was he who built the Lolei temple. He died in 910.
• His two sons Harshavarman I and Isanavarman II continued the dynasty. The reasons behind the sudden death of Isanavarman II and the relocation of the kingdom’s capital to Koh Ker is still obscure.
• There was a change in the reign of the royal dynasty , Jayavarman IV came into power and was successfully ruled for the next seven years. It is believed that he probably had allegiance to Angkor Kings , it is not known how he ended up taking the throne.
• The quality of stones used to construct the temple of Prasat thom at Koh ker indicated that King Jayavarman IV was quite rich and powerful
• He then decided to shift his empire’s capital to koh ker where he had built his temple Prasat Thom- which is an enormous 7 storey temple built at a height of 35 m with a 16 m tall shiva linga built on the top.The 16 m Linga is however missing but evidences in the architectural construction does show that the linga existed during that age.
• After the succession of few other kings whose reign didn’t extend for long.The next powerful king who took the throne was Rajendravarman. He took the capital back to Angkor, but did not include the city of Yasodharapura. Instead, he relocated his new capitol some kilometres to the east on the south bank of East Baray.The temple he built was Pre Rup in 961 as the new state temple.
• The temples were supervised by his chief architect Kavindrarimathana who also built the temples of Bat Chum and Srah Srang.
• It was during this time that there were violent rivalry between the khmers and the Chams from the neighbouring area which is now the present day Vietnam.
• When Rajendravarman died in 968, his son Jayavarman V succeeded him .He moved the capital slightly to the west calling it “Jayendranagari” and built a new state temple at it’s centre called Ta keo- this is an enormous shiva temple built with steep steps.This temple was however left half built.
• Yajnavaraha a priest in the Kingdom of Jayavarman V built the small temple Banteay Srei.This temple’s roof has been washed off completely in a flood that hit the area but the exquisite carvings are still there .
• After a few successions of the throne ,the next big historical episode that took place was the nine yrs long war between Suryavarman I and Jayaviravarman.The war ended in 1010 with the final victory of Suryavarman I.During the war Suryavarman I had allies from India as well who helped him during the time of war. It is King Suryavarman I who built the royal palace at Angkor Thom.
• Suryavarman I had diplomatic relationship with the Chola empire from the south of India .He had requested aid during conflicts from the powerful emperor of the chola dynasty- Rajendra Chola.
• His son, Udayadityavarman II was the next successor of the Khmer Empire( 1050-1066) and he built the temple monument – Baphuon.
• The next big era of reign after few yrs of rule by other kings was by Suryavarman II ( 1113-1150) .The famous temple of Angkor Wat was built during his reign.His rule is marked as the peak of Khmer Dynasty’s power and influence.
• Beng Melea and Banteay Samre,Thommanon were other famous temples built during his time.
• There were both alliances and conflicts between khmers and Cham groups.It so happened that the conflict grew stronger where the Chams took over Angkor.This could have been the end of the Khmer rule .It was King Jayavarman VII who protected the Khmers against Cham and took back Angkor after fighting the Chams for 4 yrs.
• Jayavarman VII wanted to unify his hindu and Budhist citizens. Hence decided to built Bayon temple in the city of Angkor Thom built with concepts unifying Hinduism and Budhism.The temple carvings show prosperity in the kingdom after he unified the people.
(Reference:  The book ” Ancient Angkor”- by Michael Freeman and Claude Jacques and wikipedia)
By: Aswathi Ashok.