King Jayavarman VII : 05/14/23

Sunday, May 14, 2023

𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗔𝘀𝗶𝗮

Southeast Asia, which consists of two geographical regions, land and sea, is a region rich in languages. By experts, languages in Southeast Asia are grouped into 5 groups, namely, Austronesian, Austroasiatic, Hmong-Mien, Tai-Kadai, and

RABAT: Bokator, an ancient Cambodian martial art, has been officially inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This inscription was made during the 17th Session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural

Khmer Art Overseas 3/3: In late 2003, Emma Bunker was using her status as a scholar of Asian art and decades of involvement with the Denver Art Museum as a research consultant and board member, to prepare the ground for her lavishly illustrated book

Khmer Art Overseas: I can only find one Khmer artifact in the online collection of the San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA), which has over 30,000 objects in its possession and is better known for its Greek, Roman, and

We are back at the Angkor National Museum in Siem Reap for this almost perfect specimen of Vishnu, the protector god in all his glory. He came on loan from the National Museum (Ka.2576) in 2007 when the Angkor museum opened its doors, though his arrival

Magnificent sculptures of a Radiating Lokeshvara dominated the regional centers of power across the Khmer Empire during the reign of Jayavarman VII at the end of the twelfth century. They were a symbol of his strength and devotion to Buddhist principles

Last month my brother Tim and I managed to cram a visit to 20+ temples at the Koh Ker complex, in just over half a day. A world away from my first-ever visit in late 2001 when landmines made it impossible to visit pretty much anything other than the state temple, Prasat Thom. For my 2003 and 2005

A substantial tome of work, 686 pages’ worth, is just about to be published by Routledge and if you can afford a copy, it’s definitely worth getting your hands on one.

Last month’s Peace Palace exhibition of repatriated Khmer treasures was the perfect opportunity to display a selection from the large haul of Khmer gold and gem-encrusted

Sculpture from the Angkor National Museum: A lot of the statuary from the Koh Ker complex of temples – constructed in the second quarter of the tenth century under King Jayavarman IV when the kingdom’s

Let’s take a look at the second of the single sanctuaries at the Koh Ker complex of temples that houses a giant Linga - Prasat Linga 2 (aka Prasat Thnoeng, Prasat Balang and Monument H). Standing northeast of the Rahal, the man-made baray that acts as the central focus point for the early tenth

There are some real gems to be found in the collections of the provincial museums in Cambodia, which deserve a lot more promotion to the Cambodian public and tourists alike. I’ve previously focused on the beautiful rendition of Krishna Lifting Mount Govardhana lintel at the Kompong Thom Provincial museum, so I return to the same museum for a second equally fascinating artifact, a 7th century sandstone lintel with

The third of the Linga temples at Koh Ker is one I’ve highlighted before, as the conservation team began excavation work in February to provide more background to this little-known structure. It’s the only Linga

Khmer Art Overseas: Looking at the Khmer artifacts that Weschler’s auctioneers in the USA have handled, in 2013 they sold a

Sculpture from the Angkor National Museum: In memory of King Jayavarman VII’s first wife, Jayarajadevi, who died not long after he became king in 1181AD, his

Cambodia has lost one of its long-standing and most influential scholars

Cambodia has lost one of its long-standing and most influential scholars, with the passing of Darryl Collins yesterday. I met Darryl for the first time in October 2009 and wrote the following blog post about his impact on Cambodia:

As Cambodia gears itself up to host the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games for the very first time next month, one of the country’s sporting heroes has quietly returned home from the United States to test her fitness with a view to joining the women’s football team,

In June of last year, after years of investigations and seizures by Homeland Security and the New York District Attorney’s office, a collection of 27 pieces of Khmer art were handed over to the Cambodian Ambassador in New York and a few of those were on display at the Peace Palace exhibition of recently repatriated Khmer artifacts, presided over by Prime

I return to the Angkor National Museum to present a second sandstone image of the Mother of All Buddhas, the goddess Prajnaparamita, easily identified by the tell-tale Amitabha Buddha etched into the front of her conical bun headdress. Prajnaparamita was a hugely popular iconic deity in the reign of Jayavarman VII from the last quarter of the 12th century,

Sculpture from the Angkor National Museum: These two standing female sculptures in the collection of the Angkor National Museum pose a dilemma. They are labelled as Female Divinities, which is a generic term used when the actual identity of the statue is not known or confirmed. The

I won’t repost (which I did during the Covid lockdown) my personal library of books on Cambodia, which totals more than 400, but I will shamelessly plug two books. After I wrote a bunch of articles on Cambodia for the original To Asia With Love - A

There are five headless female stone sculptures in the Gallery G: Ancient Costume room at the Angkor National Museum in Siem Reap. They provide a simple introduction to the clothing of female

Overseas Khmer Art: The Honolulu Museum of Art in Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean about 2,000 miles from the United States mainland, has a fairly large collection of Khmer art but does not advertise the fact. Most museums have their collections online, but Honolulu has almost nothing to see. Very

We return to the Koh Ker temple complex a couple of hours northeast of Siem Reap for a look at another of the sanctuaries housing a giant Linga - Prasat Linga 4 (aka Prasat

In August 2020, I posted my Top 10 books on Cambodia from my personal collection, which I re-post here and invite discussion of your personal choices:

• River of Time, by Jon Swain, 1995

• A Cambodian Odyssey: Haing Ngor with Roger Warner, 1987

• To Cambodia with Love: A Travel Guide for the Connoisseur, edited by Andy Brouwer, 2011

Sculpture from the Angkor National Museum: This statue of a female deity in Gallery E of the Angkor National Museum is a rarity in Khmer art. It’s a sandstone sculpture of a divinity named Hariti, a mythical female goddess sitting and cradling a child on her left knee. It bears a resemblance to the better-known sculpture