Place · Khmer Buddhist temple · Cambodia
Bayon, Angkor
/praːsaːt baːjŏən/
The late 12th-century Buddhist Mahayana temple complex at Angkor built by Jayavarman VII (ruled 1181-1218) at the symbolic centre of his capital Angkor Thom in Cambodia — a reconfiguration of Indic religious vocabulary into Khmer imperial iconography. The 54 towers each carry four giant faces (216 faces total) traditionally identified as the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara or as the deified king himself. The bas-reliefs on the outer wall depict Khmer naval battles against the Cham, everyday Khmer life, and Jayavarman VII's military campaigns — the first time Khmer temple relief turned from exclusively religious to historical subjects. Jayavarman VII's shift from Shaivism to Mahayana Buddhism marks the religious inflection of 12th-century Khmer rule.
- Function
- Sacred site & pilgrimage
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 13.442, 103.859
Connections (1)
- Angkor religious shiftAngkor Wat, Cambodia
Angkor Wat was built for Vishnu by Suryavarman II in the 1110s and the Bayon for Buddhism by Jayavarman VII eighty years later, with its towers carrying enormous faces usually read as Avalokiteshvara. The shift is a court decision rather than a popular one, and it went back and forth: Angkor Wat was later converted to Theravada use and Jayavarman VII's Buddhist images were defaced in a Shaiva reaction after his death.
Sources
Cambridge, Early Interactions between South and Southeast Asia; ICWA
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