Historical figure
Suryavarman I
សូរ្យវរ្ម័នទី១
Suryavarman I (សូរ្យវរ្ម័នទី១) was a king of the Khmer Empire at Angkor in the first half of the 11th century. A Khmer history series on Radio Free Asia gives his reign as 1002 to 1050.[1] The Cambodia Daily wrote in 2016 that he is believed to have united a divided country and laid much of the groundwork for the kings who followed him.[2]
Rise to the throne
The radio series says Suryavarman I claimed kinship through his mother with King Indravarman I and with Indravarman's son Yasovarman I. It suggests he was probably born in Tambralinga, a Khmer-ruled land on the northern Malay Peninsula. He took the throne from King Jayaviravarman. Setting out from the province of Nokor Reach, he took Angkor in 1006 and won full control in 1010. He nonetheless counted his reign from 1002, the year Jayaviravarman came to power. After his victory he was consecrated king together with Jayaviravarman's former queen.[1]
In 1011 he had his officials swear an oath of loyalty to him, in war and in peace. The text of the oath was carved at the entrance to the royal palace.[1]
Reign
The radio series calls him a brave warrior king. It says he led armies against the Mon at Haripunjaya (Lamphun) and, after other campaigns, ruled the whole plain of the Chao Phraya River and the Mekong plain as far as Luang Prabang.[1] The historian David Chandler, quoted by The Cambodia Daily, wrote that he widened the land under Angkor's rule and founded new religious sites to bring the land west of the Tonle Sap lake under it.[2]
He was the first Angkorian king to follow Mahayana Buddhism. He also cared for Hindu worship: he had officials repair Hindu shrines and statues damaged in the civil war, and inscriptions say Hindus and Buddhists of both schools lived together in peace in his reign.[1]
Building
The radio series says he probably finished the Phimeanakas temple, Ta Keo and the gateways of the royal palace. It also credits him with Phnom Chisor, parts of Preah Vihear and Preah Khan Kampong Svay, and says he planned the new royal city centered on the Baphuon (ប្រាសាទបាពួន), which his successor completed.[1] Kim Sophoan, Battambang province's director of culture and fine arts, dates the temple of Ek Phnom near Battambang to his reign.[3]
Historians long puzzled over why he seemed to have built no temple mountain of his own at Angkor.[2] A 2015 study radiocarbon-dated iron clamps from the first terrace of the Baphuon to between the late 10th and early 11th centuries, which points to Jayavarman V or Suryavarman I.[4] The study, led by Stephanie Leroy and Mitch Hendrickson, ties the Baphuon to his reign. The temple had long been credited to Udayadityavarman II.[2]
His reign ended in 1050, and Udayadityavarman II followed him.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Radio Free Asia Khmer, The activities of four kings of the Angkor period, part 12 of a history series (April 23, 2014; in Khmer)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 The Cambodia Daily, Michelle Vachon, Metal Findings Give New Perspective on Angkorian History (June 20, 2016)
- ↑ Cambodianess, Ek Phnom: Battambang's Must-See 11th-Century Temple (August 16, 2022)
- ↑ PLOS ONE, Leroy, Hendrickson, Delqué-Kolic, Vega and Dillmann, First Direct Dating for the Construction and Modification of the Baphuon Temple Mountain in Angkor, Cambodia (November 4, 2015)