Jayavarman VIII and the Hindu Restoration of Angkor

When Jayavarman VII died in 1218, his son Indravarman II continued the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, but the empire was fraying. After his death, a succession crisis brought Jayavarman VIII to power in 1243—a fervent Saivite Hindu who systematically dismantled his predecessors' Buddhist works. This episode examines the iconoclastic campaign: the smashing of Buddha images, the conversion of Bayon's central sanctuary, and the chiseling of Buddha medallions from the Terrace of the Leper King. We explore whether this was religious zealotry or political consolidation, and how it set the stage for the Theravada Buddhist shift that followed. Along the way, we meet the shadowy figure of Jayavarman VIII, the general Mangalartha, and the Chinese envoy Zhou Daguan, who visited Angkor a generation later. The episode also touches on the growing pressure from the Mongols, the fall of Champa, and the final flowering of Khmer art before the empire's long decline. #JayavarmanVIII #AngkorWat #KhmerEmpire #Hinduism #Buddhism #Iconoclasm #Bayon #Saivism #Mangalartha #ZhouDaguan #Mongols #Champa #Theravada #AngkorThom #TerraceOfTheLeperKing #Cambodia #SoutheastAsianHistory #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo