36 MARCH/APRIL 2022
Power of the Khmer
The Khmer flourished from the ninth to
the 15th centuries, its rulers presiding over a
sprawling, prosperous, and sophisticated em-
pire that stretched across much of mainland
Southeast Asia, from modern-day Myanmar
(Burma) to Vietnam. It was linked by a net-
work of river routes and elevated roads. Agri-
cultural production thrived during this period,
perhaps thanks to the higher temperatures and
nourishing rains during the so-called Medieval
Warm Period.
The Angkor Wat temple complex was built
alongside the ancient Khmer capital Angkor,
the focus of elaborate building projects since the
dawn of the empire (including the ninth-century
Phnom Bakheng temple that overlooks Angkor
Wat to this day). In the 12th century, as work ad-
vanced on Angkor Wat under Suryavarman II, a
religious shift from Hinduism toward Buddhism
was intensifying across the Khmer lands.
Buddhism had coexisted peacefully with
Hinduism for many years. It was first brought to
Cambodia around the fifth century, carried by
traders and missionaries from India, a culture
that exerted a significant influence on Cambo-
dian history: India had already brought Hindu-
ism to the region, and the Khmer language is
related to Sanskrit.
Some 30 years after Suryavarman II’s death,
King Jayavarman VII came to the throne in 1181.
He revived Khmer fortunes after the kingdom
was invaded by the neighboring Cham, and he
solidified the status of Buddhism by making
it the state religion. Jayavarman VII’s face is
believed to have been the model for the many
visages that decorate the Bayon temple in nearby
Angkor Thom. Built alongside Angkor Wat, this
new fortified Khmer capital marked a new high
in Khmer power. The city’s population swelled
to a then-record 750,000.
Angkor Wat continued to be a Hindu temple
until the 1300s, when it was formally rededicated
as a Buddhist site. In keeping with Buddhist tol-
erance for Hinduism, the iconography of its great
reliefs was not demolished or replaced, although
Buddhist statues were added.
Around this time, the Khmer Empire started
to decline, the result of a complex mixture of fac-
tors. In the 143os the Khmer rulers abandoned
the great complexes of Angkor and relocated to
the newly established Phnom Penh to the south.