Feast of King Suryavarman II

£925 Out of stock

‘God-king’ Suryavarman II (1113-1150) was one of the most brilliant of the Khmer rulers and founder of the temple of Angkor Wat. In this bas-relief, the original of which can be found in the west wing of the south gallery, the king is portrayed in all his majesty, sheltered by 20 parasols which indicate his supreme rank.
Suryavarman 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).