Latest / The Khmer Empire: The Lost Civilization Behind Angkor Wat — Fexingo History / The Priest-King of Angkor: Jayavarman VIII's Anti-Buddhist Purge
Transcript
- Lucas: So far in this series, we've talked a lot about the great builder-kings of Angkor — Suryavarman II, Jayavarman VII — but. there's one king who deliberately tried to undo a lot of what Jayavarman VII built. His name was Jayavarman VIII, and he came to power around 1243. Luna: Wait — undo? What do you mean? Lucas: Jayavarman VIII was a hardcore Shaivite — a devotee of Shiva — and he saw the state-sponsored Mahayana Buddhism of his predecessor as a corruption. So he launched. essentially a religious purge. He had Buddha images smashed or recarved into Hindu icons. He converted Buddhist temples back into Hindu ones. Even the Bayon — that massive face-temple of Jayavarman VII — was defaced. The serene Buddha faces on its towers? Many were chiseled away. Lucas: And you know, if today's episode feels worth a cup of coffee to you — honestly, that's the link. Buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's what keeps this show ad-free and lets us dig into stories like this. Luna: Yeah, it really does. And it's so small — I've done it myself. Lucas: So this purge wasn't just vandalism — it was systematic. At the temple of Ta Prohm, which Jayavarman VII had built as a Mahayana monastery dedicated to his mother, Jayavarman VIII removed the central Buddha image and installed a Shiva linga. The same thing happened at Preah Khan. The inscriptions that recorded Buddhist dedications were literally chiseled out. Luna: So he was basically rewriting religious history. But why? Was it just personal conviction? Lucas: Partly, but there's also a political angle. Jayavarman VIII wasn't from Jayavarman VII's line — he was a usurper, probably a priest or a general who seized the throne. By restoring Shaivism, he was legitimising his own rule through the old devaraja cult — the god-king tradition that linked the king directly to Shiva. It was a power move wrapped in religious zeal. Lucas: But here's where it gets really interesting. While Jayavarman VIII was busy smashing Buddhas, a much bigger threat was looming in the north: the Mongols. By the 1270s, Kublai Khan had conquered China and was looking south. In 1278, he sent an envoy named Heizi to demand tribute from the Khmer. Jayavarman VIII refused. He arrested the envoy. And that was a dangerous move. Luna: Arresting a Mongol envoy? That's basically asking for an invasion. Lucas: Exactly. In 1283, Kublai Khan sent a general named Suo Du with a fleet and army. They landed somewhere near modern-day southern Vietnam or Cambodia — we don't know exactly — and marched on Angkor. The Khmer army was no match. Jayavarman VIII had to sue for peace. According to the Yuan shi, the official Mongol history, he sent a golden statue of himself as tribute and swore allegiance to the Khan. Luna: So the great iconoclast ended up bowing to a foreign emperor. That's humiliating. Lucas: It was. And it gets worse. The Mongols didn't occupy Angkor, but the tribute relationship drained resources. Meanwhile, Jayavarman VIII's religious policies had alienated the powerful Buddhist sangha — the monastic community. So when he died around 1295, his successor Srindravarman — a Buddhist — immediately reversed course. The Buddha images were restored, Theravada Buddhism became dominant, and the devaraja cult effectively ended. Luna: So Jayavarman VIII's reign was in some ways the last gasp of the old Hindu Khmer state. After him, everything changed. Lucas: Right. And we know about this from a remarkable source — the Vatt Sithor inscription, found at a monastery in modern-day Cambodia. It's a long inscription in Old Khmer and Pali that describes the Buddhist community's suffering under Jayavarman VIII and their joy at the restoration under Srindravarman. It even names specific monks who fled or were killed. Luna: And the defaced temples — are there signs of that still visible today? Lucas: Absolutely. At the Bayon, you can see where Buddha images on the central sanctuary were chipped away. At Banteay Chhmar, a remote temple complex, there are statues that were deliberately beheaded. And at a lesser-known site called Prasat Neak Buos, north of Siem Reap, there's a cave sanctuary where a large Buddha was recarved into a Shiva linga — you can still see the outline of the original image. Luna: That's so tangible. You can literally see the conflict carved into the stone. Lucas: Exactly. And that's what makes this period so fascinating. It's not just kings and battles — it's about how people expressed their faith, and how power and religion were inseparable. Jayavarman VIII tried to turn back the clock, but in the end, the Buddhist tide was too strong. And the empire itself was already starting to fragment. Luna: So his reign was a kind of last stand for the old Hindu order — but it also exposed how vulnerable Angkor had become. Lucas: Exactly. And that vulnerability would only grow in the next century, leading eventually to the abandonment of Angkor. But that's a story for another episode.