The Empire's Birth

The Angkorian Period: The Empire's Birth

The specificity of this developing civilization as it diverged noticeably from its cultural antecedents is brought forth by epigraphic, architectural, and artistic evidence. A radical change is evident in Khmer statuary at the beginning of this period. As opposed to earlier human and divine figures with gracefully tilted hips and waist, the new figures stand abruptly straight. The loss of nuance in corporal flexion most clearly strikes the eye.

These linguistic and artistic elements do not however serve alone to prove the ninth century a watershed in Khmer history. They are rather the manifestations of a singular political event: the rise to power of Jayavarman II in the year 802. This event marked a political turning point not simply in the eyes of modern historians, but more importantly, in Khmer memory for centuries to come.

In his campaigns across the land over the final years of the eighth century, Jayavarman II progressively unified disparate and rival principalities. His long trajectory culminated with the establishment of a royal cult based on worship of a specific linga. This magic cult was meant to ensure the independence of the country and the exclusive right of a single monarch to the throne. Jayavarman II personally instituted the cult atop Phnom Kulen, in declaring that "the country of Kampuchea is no longer dependent upon Java." The linga, named "kamraten jagat ta raja," "the god of the king," was to become the palladium of the kingdom. Installed at each successive Angkorian capital, the linga conferred magico-religious legitimacy upon Jayavarman II and subsequent rulers. It was through this cult that the notion of a universal monarch or "cakravartin" was first formulated in Cambodia. Under this king, a central royal power was thus consolidated and reinforced in a united Cambodia with the aid of specific but diverse religious ceremonies.

Rising to the throne almost thirty years after the death of Angkor's founder, Indravarman reiterated the intimate association between religion and royalty.

In dedicating his first religious construction (Preah Kho) to the memory of his ancestors, and in particular to that of Jayavarman II, this king further consolidated his legitimacy in historical terms. Giving concrete form to the reigning monarch's claim to genealogical legitimacy, the consecration of such a temple, while maintaining a living cult, was meant to simultaneously ensure the posthumous sojourn of royal ancestors in the divine worlds.

Only after having erected this ancestor temple did Indravarman dedicate an imposing temple to his own cult : the "mountain-temple". Known today as Bakong, this temple consisting of a five-tiered pyramid crowned by a central sanctuary, and surrounded by numerous satellite sanctuaries and edifices, finds here its first truly majestic expression.

It is important to note that despite evident roots in earlier Khmer mo-dels, ninth century temple decor and, in the case of the Bakong, architectural design itself, simultaneously suggest Javanese influences less perceptible in pre-Angkorian art. The remarkable grimacing figures carved in the stucco of Preah Ko, for example, suggest that in artistic terms Angkorian civilization had yet to establish complete autonomy from Java.
Divergence from pre-Angkorian aesthetic forms would seem to have drawn some of its initial force from a reference to Javanese models. The gradual affirmation of artistic independence over time would however come to reinforce and consolidate the political independence declared and enacted in ritualistic terms by Jayavarman II. Indeed, over the course of the Angkorian period, great stylistic evolution in the arts can be discerned.

Divergence from pre-Angkorian aesthetic forms would seem to have drawn some of its initial force from a reference to Javanese models. The gradual affirmation of artistic independence over time would however come to reinforce and consolidate the political independence declared and enacted in ritualistic terms by Jayavarman II. Indeed, over the course of the Angkorian period, great stylistic evolution in the arts can be discerned.
Developing simple but efficient techniques for exploiting natural water sources to the benefit of the kingdom, Indravarman was to lay the foundations for the concrete realization of civil infrastructures supporting and supported by the monarchy's nascent political and religious institutions. Indravarman's principal and enduring contribution in this domain was the creation of a system in which water was captured from the Roluos river to feed a large reservoir, the baray) measuring 3.8 kilometers by 800 meters.

Flowing naturally under the influence of gravity, water was channeled southward from the baray into the moats surrounding Preah Ko and the Bakong. In addition to protecting the enclosed temple complexes from intruders, these moats bore great symbolic significance as concentric "oceans" surrounding central "continents," or in the case of mountain-temples, surrounding the sacred Mount Meru itself. This symbolic role was surely reinforced as the moats became the first elements in a vast hydrological network.

Further developed and perfected over the coming centuries, Indravarman's innovation was essen-tial to the rapid consolidation, rise, and endurance of the Empire. From these first elements, a specific type of agrarian city was to develop, based upon sophisticated systems of water exploitation, and known as the "hydraulic city."

Before transferring the capital to this new location, however, Yasovarman built a temple to the memory of his ancestors (Lolei). Further repeating the symbolic and physical gestures of his father, Yasovarman next built a mountain-temple for his personal cult: Phnom Bakheng.

During the following five centuries, excepted a 23 years break, the same organizational elements directed construction of an agrarian city. Indeed, the return of the capital to the Angkor region after an installation in Koh Ker, demonstrates the viability of this geographical choice.

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