Jayavarman VII was a king of the Khmer Empire. He is generally considered the most powerful of the Khmer monarchs by historians.
Background
Jayavarman was born in 1120, in present-day Siem Reap, Cambodia, the son of King Dharanindravarman II (r. 1150-1160) and Queen Sri Jayarajacudamani. Though practically nothing is known of Jayavarman’s childhood and youth, it is clear that during his late 30s and early 40s he settled in the neighbouring kingdom of Champa, in what is now the central region of Vietnam.
Education
Nothing is known of Jayavarman's education.
Career
At the time of the death of his father, Jayavarman was engaged in a military campaign in Champa, and, after the accession of his brother (or possibly his cousin), Yasovarman II, he chose to remain there, returning to Cambodia only when he received word that a palace rebellion was in progress. Although Jayavarman arrived at Angkor too late to prevent the murder of Yasovarman and the accession of the rebel Tribhuvanadityavarman, he decided to remain in his homeland and to await an opportunity to assert his own claim to the throne.
Some 12 years later, when Jayavarman was in his late 50s, that opportunity came as a result of a Cham invasion, which brought about the demise of Tribhuvanadityavarman, the sacking of Angkor, and its subjection to foreign rule. In this situation Jayavarman organized a struggle for independence and in less than five years’ time succeeded in driving out the invaders and establishing his hegemony over all his Cambodian rivals. Finally in 1181, at the age of 61, he was crowned king of a reconstituted Khmer empire and began a brilliant reign of more than 30 years, during which he brought the empire to its zenith, both in terms of territorial expansion and of royal architecture and construction.
Jayavarman died around 1218 in Yaśodharapura, Khmer Empire.
Over the 30 some years of his reign, Jayavarman embarked on a grand program of construction that included both public works and monuments. As a Mahayana Buddhist, his declared aim was to alleviate the suffering of his people. Numerous monuments erected by Jayavarman must have required the labor of thousands of workers, and Jayavarman's reign was marked by the centralization of the state and the herding of people into ever greater population centers.
He constructed his own "temple-mountain" at Bayon and developed the city of Angkor Thom around it. He also built Neak Pean ("Coiled Serpent"), one of the smallest but most beautiful temples in the Angkor complex, a fountain with four surrounding ponds set on an island in that artificial lake.
In 1186, Jayavarman dedicated Ta Prohm ("Ancestor Brahma" or " Eye of Brahma") to his mother. An inscription indicates that this massive temple at one time had 80,000 people assigned to its upkeep, including 18 high priests and 615 female dancers.
Views
Scholars, however, have sought to maintain a more balanced view of Jayavarman, recognizing the obvious immensity of his accomplishments but also taking account of the fact that the overweening demands that he placed on the material and human resources of his kingdom may have been a major factor in its subsequent loss of creativity and its eventual demise.
Connections
Jayavarman married Princess Jayarajadevi and then, after her death, married her sister Indradevi.