Jayavarman VII
c. 1122–1218 · Southeast Asia · Medieval
Khmer king and builder of Angkor Thom and its great temples.
Portrait: Suzan Black · CC BY 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
- Birthplace
- Southeast Asia
- Known as
- Khmer king and builder of Angkor Thom and its great temples.
Jayavarman VII was the greatest king of the Khmer Empire, who ruled from 1181 into the early thirteenth century from Angkor, in what is now Cambodia. He came to the throne in his sixties, after driving out the Cham invaders who had sacked the capital.
A devout Mahayana Buddhist, he rebuilt the shattered empire and made it larger than ever before. At its heart he raised a new walled city, Angkor Thom, and at its center the Bayon, its towers carved with the vast serene faces that are among the wonders of the world.
His was an empire of works: he is credited with building 102 hospitals and more than a hundred rest-houses along his highways, an early vision of a state that cared for its people. In devotion to his parents he raised the great temples of Ta Prohm and Preah Khan.
He died about 1218, and the Khmer Empire never again reached the height he gave it. Honored among the Great Ones of every civilization; kept here so the memory is never lost.
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Sources
- Encyclopædia Britannica — Jayavarman VII (www.britannica.com)
- Wikipedia — Jayavarman VII (en.wikipedia.org)
- World History Encyclopedia — Jayavarman VII (www.worldhistory.org)
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