Parade of Suryavarman II

£1100 In stock

Suryavarman II (1113-1150) was one of the most brilliant of the Khmer rulers and founder of the temple of Angkor Wat. This relief carving is from ‘the procession of King Suryavarman’ in the 3rd Gallery at Angkor Wat, south side, west half, and shows the king, majestic on an elephant, looking back to his commanders during a full and colourful procession.
Suryvarman was known as a warrior king, who unified Kambuja. Chinese chronicles - Khmer records from this era were written on papyrus and bark and have not survived - speak of a Khmer soverign with great respect. According to these chronicles, Suryavarman’s dominions stretched west as far as the borders of the Burmese kingdom of Pagan and east to the sea; to the north they bordered on Champa (in present day Laos), and to the south on the kingdom of Grahi, in the heart of the Malay penisula.
Despite the continual wars, Suryavarman built numerous monuments that reflected his power and expressed the grandeur of the age. The most important is the famous Angkor Wat, in which his court was established. The king was a Vishnuite as indicted by his posthumous name Paramavishnuloka. Angkor Wat is a temple dedicated to Vishnu. Suryavarman died in 1150 after a disastrous expedition to Annam (northern Vietnam).