Historical figure
Yasovarman I
យសោវរ្ម័នទី១
Yasovarman I (យសោវរ្ម័នទី១) was a king of the Khmer Empire who came to the throne in 889. He moved the royal capital from Hariharalaya (ហរិហរាល័យ), in today's Roluos area, to a new city at Angkor built around the hill of Phnom Bakheng (ភ្នំបាខែង). The city, Yasodharapura (យសោធបុរៈ), was the first capital at Angkor.[1][2] He also had the East Baray reservoir dug. He built the brick temple of Lolei (ប្រាសាទលលៃ), the temple of Bakheng (ប្រាសាទបាខែង) on Phnom Bakheng, and temples on the hills of Phnom Krom (ភ្នំក្រោម) and Phnom Bok (ភ្នំបូក).[1][2]
Coming to the throne
His father was King Indravarman I (ឥន្ទ្រវរ្ម័នទី១), and he became king when his father's reign ended in 889.[1][2] The Radio Free Asia series writes that he was among the best-taught kings of his line. His teacher was the Brahmin Vamasiva, himself a pupil of the teacher Sivasoma.[1]
At Hariharalaya
Soon after he became king, he founded about a hundred religious retreats, the Yasodharasrama ashrams. He also set up many inscriptions across the country.[1] In 893 he completed Lolei in the middle of the Indratataka (ឥន្ទ្រតដាក), the reservoir his father had dug.[1][3] Its four towers stand in two rows. Inscriptions show that the two main towers were for his parents, Indravarman and Indradevi, and the other two for his grandparents on his mother's side, Mahipativarman and Rajendradevi.[1][3]
A new capital at Angkor
He then moved the capital about 16 kilometers (10 miles) northwest of Hariharalaya.[2] The Radio Free Asia series suggests that the old capital, crowded with buildings and close to the Tonle Sap (ទន្លេសាប) lake, left little room to build more.[1] The new city had Phnom Bakheng at its center. On top of the hill he built the temple of Bakheng for the linga Sri Yasodharesvara, consecrated in 893.[1] The temple is a five-tiered sandstone pyramid on a hill about 65 meters (213 feet) high, and with the shrines on its tiers and around its base there may once have been 108 shrines.[2] Hello Angkor links the temple to a site named in the Sdok Kak Thom inscription (K. 235), which also gives the name Yasodharagiri.[2]
On the hills of Phnom Krom and Phnom Bok, on either side of Phnom Bakheng, he built temples of three towers each for the Trimurti, the gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.[1] No founding inscription has been found at either site, and Hello Angkor writes that they are dated to his reign by their style and their likeness to Bakheng.[4]
To supply water for the city and its farms, he had the East Baray dug northeast of the new capital, 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) long and 1,800 meters (5,900 feet) wide. It was named Yasodharatataka (យសោធរៈតដាក).[1]
His reign
The series writes that all religions grew and lived in harmony in his reign. On the south bank of the East Baray he had ashrams built for followers of Shiva, of Vishnu and of the Buddha.[1] Inscriptions also record a campaign against Champa and a victory at sea over pirates whose ships had white sails. The series suggests the ships may have been Cham or Indonesian.[1]
End of his reign
The sources differ on when his reign ended: the Radio Free Asia series gives 900, and Hello Angkor gives 910.[1][2] He received the posthumous name Paramasivaloka (បរមសិវលោក).[1] The hilltop temples of his reign set the style for the building at Angkor that followed.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 Radio Free Asia Khmer, Chun Chanboth, Kings of the Angkor period, part 10 of a history series (April 2, 2014; in Khmer)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Hello Angkor, Phnom Bakheng (updated January 1, 2026)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Hello Angkor, Lolei Temple (updated January 1, 2026)
- ↑ Hello Angkor, Phnom Bok (updated January 1, 2026)