KINGSHIPand society onto the Khmer context. In-
scriptions from the period, predominantly in Khmer
and Sanskrit, suggest that the pre-Angkorian rulers
were for the most part devotees of S ́iva or VISNU, but
this does not mean that an Indian-like “Hinduism” was
in existence. Drawing on persuasive linguistic evidence,
the historian Michael Vickery has pointed to the prac-
tice among pre-Angkor Khmer of attributing Indian
names to their own indigenous deities. Most pre-
Angkor rulers appear to have tolerated and to varying
degrees supported Buddhism in their courts, but to
what extent Buddhism was known beyond the courts
is difficult to gauge. Iconography and historical records
from the period suggest that Buddhist influences were
being felt from India, China, Sri Lanka, and other parts
of Southeast Asia, such as Dvaravatand Champa, with
more than one form of Buddhism in evidence. Nu-
merous Avalokites ́vara figures, as well as a reference to
“Lokes ́vara” (Avalokites ́vara) appearing in an inscrip-
tion dated 791 from the Siemreap area of present-day
Cambodia, indicate the presence of Mahayana ideas.
Yet some early Pali inscriptions have also been found
along with Sri Lankan and Dvaravatstyle Buddha im-
ages showing Theravada influence.
By the end of the pre-Angkor period, kings were ex-
panding their territories and centralizing political and
economic authority, while at the same time seeking to
align themselves with deities perceived to hold uni-
versal power. The Khmer political concept of a close
association between king and deity, known in Sanskrit
inscriptions as the devarajacult, must have grown out
of indigenous traditions linking rulers and local deities
of the earth. It developed more fully during the Angkor
period, from the ninth through thirteenth centuries,
starting with the kingship of Jayavarman II (r.
802–854). Inscriptions speak of Jayavarman’s patron-
age of a devarajacult that associated him with S ́iva, ei-
ther as “god-king” or as a devotee of S ́iva, “king of the
gods.” While the exact relationship between king and
deity denoted by this phrase remains controversial
among scholars, there is no doubt that the power of
kings and deities were closely interwoven in a cult that
became a model for the later Angkorian kings. From
readings of inscriptions, Angkorian art, and other his-
torical accounts, scholars have surmised that the con-
siderable political and economic influence wielded by
Angkorian kings was inseparable from their associa-
tions with fertility and agriculture, their superior moral
status, and their roles as protectors and propagators of
religious devotion, associations that were carried into
the later Buddhist kingships. This range of powers was
embodied in their building projects, typically of reser-
voirs, images, and mountain temples, such as Angkor
Wat, the fabulous temple built by Suryavarman II
(r. 1113–ca. 1150) and dedicated to Visnu.
During the Angkorian period, a fuller picture of
Buddhism emerges. While most of the earlier Ang-
korian kings were S ́aivite or devotees of the combined
S ́iva-Visnu deity Harihara, Mahayana Buddhism was
also becoming increasingly intertwined with kingship.
Yas ́ovarman, regarded as the founder of Angkor
(889–900), built three hermitages outside of his capi-
tal dedicated to S ́iva, Visnu, and the Buddha. Rajen-
dravarman II (r. ca. 944–ca. 968), Jayavarman V (r. ca.
968–ca. 1001), Suryavarman I (r. 1001–1050), and
Jayavarman VI (r. 1080–1107) were all patrons of Ma-
hayana Buddhism, though their reigns too remained
syncretic. Mahayana Buddhism came to the forefront,
however, during the reign of Jayavarman VII (r. 1181–
ca. 1218), considered to be the “last great Angkorian
king.” The complex reasons for Jayavarman VII’s pro-
motion of Buddhism over other Angkorian cults, his-
torian David Chandler suggests, may have stemmed
from an apparent estrangement from the Angkor court
as well as a period spent in Champa, where Mahayana
Buddhism was influential. After repelling several
bloody Cham invasions, Jayavarman VII responded to
the suffering in the aftermath of war with public works
intended to embody his compassion: roads, rest houses,
hospitals, and reservoirs. His temples Ta Prohm and
Preah Kan, built to honor his parents in combination
with the goddess of wisdom, Prajñaparamita, and the
bodhisattva Lokes ́vara (symbolizing compassion), con-
tained inscriptions enumerating the thousands of peo-
ple connected with each temple complex. The BAYON
temple in the center of his capital contained a central
image of the Buddha, with four-faced images of the
bodhisattva Lokes ́vara on its towers and exteriors.
This image has sometimes been interpreted as a like-
ness of the king as well, possibly representing a Bud-
dhistic extension of the devarajaconcept to linking of
king and BODHISATTVA. Following Jayavarman, Bud-
dhism and kingship have remained closely inter-
twined in Cambodia.
During the eleventh through thirteenth centuries,
the same period that Islamization was occurring in
maritime Southeast Asia, Theravada Buddhism rose to
prominence throughout mainland Southeast Asia.
Scholars are unable to wholly account for the spread
of Theravada Buddhist ideologies and practices duringCAMBODIA