The Khmer Empire (Khmer: ចក្រភពខ្មែរ), the predecessor state to modern Cambodia ("Kampuchea" or "Srok Khmer" to theKhmer people), was a powerful Khmer Hindu-Buddhist empire in Southeast Asia. The empire, which grew out of the former kingdoms of Funan and Chenla, at times ruled over and/or vassalised most of mainland Southeast Asia, parts of modern-dayLaos, Thailand, and southern Vietnam.[1]
Its greatest legacy is Angkor, in present-day Cambodia, which was the site of the capital city during the empire's zenith. The majestic monuments of Angkor – such as Angkor Wat and Bayon – bear testimony to the Khmer Empire's immense power and wealth, impressive art and culture, architectural technique and aesthetics achievements, as well as the variety of belief systems that it patronised over time. Satellite imaging has revealed that Angkor, during it peak in the 11th to 13th centuries, was the largest pre-industrial urban centre in the world.[2]
The beginning of the era of the Khmer Empire is conventionally dated to 802 AD. In this year, King Jayavarman II had himself declared chakravartin ("king of the world", or "king of kings") on Phnom Kulen. The empire ended with the fall of Angkor in the 15th century.
| Khmer Empire Kambujadesa Kingdom Kampuchea | |||||
| កម្វុជទេឝ | |||||
| |||||
 | |||||
| Capital | Yasodharapura Hariharalaya Angkor | ||||
| Languages | Old Khmer Sanskrit | ||||
| Religion | Hinduism Mahayana Buddhism Theravada Buddhism | ||||
| Government | Absolute monarchy | ||||
| King | |||||
| • | 802–850 | Jayavarman II | |||
| • | 1113–1150 | Suryavarman II | |||
| • | 1181–1218 | Jayavarman VII | |||
| • | 1393–1463 | Ponhea Yat | |||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||
| • | Enthronement of Jayavarman II | 802 | |||
| • | Siamese invasion | 1431 | |||
| Area | |||||
| 1,200,000 km²(463,323 sq mi) | |||||
| Population | |||||
| • | 1150 est. | 4,000,000 | |||
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The Khmer Empire (Khmer: ចក្រភពខ្មែរ), the predecessor state to modern Cambodia ("Kampuchea" or "Srok Khmer" to theKhmer people), was a powerful Khmer Hindu-Buddhist empire in Southeast Asia. The empire, which grew out of the former kingdoms of Funan and Chenla, at times ruled over and/or vassalised most of mainland Southeast Asia, parts of modern-dayLaos, Thailand, and southern Vietnam.[1]
Its greatest legacy is Angkor, in present-day Cambodia, which was the site of the capital city during the empire's zenith. The majestic monuments of Angkor – such as Angkor Wat and Bayon – bear testimony to the Khmer Empire's immense power and wealth, impressive art and culture, architectural technique and aesthetics achievements, as well as the variety of belief systems that it patronised over time. Satellite imaging has revealed that Angkor, during it peak in the 11th to 13th centuries, was the largest pre-industrial urban centre in the world.[2]
The beginning of the era of the Khmer Empire is conventionally dated to 802 AD. In this year, King Jayavarman II had himself declared chakravartin ("king of the world", or "king of kings") on Phnom Kulen. The empire ended with the fall of Angkor in the 15th century.
Contents
[hide]Historiography[edit]
The history of Angkor as the central area of settlement of the historical kingdom of Kambujadesa is also the history of the Khmer kingdom from the 9th to the 13th centuries.[3]
From Kambuja itself — and so also from the Angkor region — no written records have survived other than stone inscriptions. Therefore, the current knowledge of the historical Khmer civilisation is derived primarily from:
- Archaeological excavation, reconstruction and investigation
- Stone inscriptions (most important are foundation steles of temples), which report on the political and religious deeds of the kings
- Reliefs in a series of temple walls with depictions of military marches, life in the palace, market scenes and also the everyday lives of the population
- Reports and chronicles of Chinese diplomats, traders and travellers.
History[edit]
Formation and growth[edit]
Jayavarman II — the founder of Angkor[edit]
According to Sdok Kok Thom inscription,[4]:97[5]:353–354 circa 781 Indrapura was the first capital of Jayavarman II, located in Banteay Prei Nokor, near today's Kompong Cham.[6] After he eventually returned to his home, the former kingdom of Chenla, he quickly built up his influence, conquered a series of competing kings, and in 790 became king of a kingdom called "Kambuja" by the Khmer. He then moved his court northwest to Mahendraparvata, far inland north from the great lake of Tonle Sap.
Jayavarman II (802-835)[7]:xiii,59 is widely regarded as a king who set the foundations of the Angkor period in Cambodian history, beginning with a grandiose consecration ritual that he conducted in 802 on the sacred Mount Mahendraparvata, now known asPhnom Kulen, to celebrate the independence of Kambuja from Javanese dominion.[8] At that ceremony Prince Jayavarman II was proclaimed a universal monarch (Cambodian: Kamraten jagad ta Raja) or God King (Sanskrit: Deva Raja). He declared himself Chakravartin, in a ritual taken from the Indian-Hindu tradition. Thereby he not only became the divinely appointed and therefore uncontested ruler, but also simultaneously declared the independence of his kingdom from Java. According to some sources, Jayavarman II had resided for some time in Java during the reign of Sailendras, or "The Lords of Mountains", hence the concept ofDeva Raja or God King was ostensibly imported from Java.[4]:99–101 At that time, Sailendras allegedly ruled over Java, Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula and parts of Cambodia,[9] around the Mekong delta.
The first pieces of information on Jayavarman II came from the K.235 stone inscription on a stele in Sdok Kok Thom temple, Isanregion, dating to 1053. it recounts two and a half centuries of service that members of the temple's founding family provided for the Khmer court, mainly as chief chaplains of the Shaivite Hindu religion.[10]
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