The Leper King: Angkor's Strangest Statue

On the last day of Angkor, a statue sat on a terrace in the royal square. The Khmer called it the Leper King, but its skin was smooth. In this episode, Lucas and Luna untangle the mystery of the statue that gave the Terrace of the Leper King its name — and what it tells us about the empire's final century. They trace its possible connection to Jayavarman VII's son, Prince Indravarman, who was said to have died of leprosy, and weigh the evidence against the statue's actual identity: possibly Yama, the god of justice, or a royal judge. They also explore the legend of the Khmer king who was exiled for his arrogance, and the Hindu and Buddhist ideas about impermanence that the statue embodies. With the help of Zhou Daguan's 13th-century travel account and the work of modern archaeologists, they piece together how this single, weathered figure became a symbol of Angkor's long decline — and why a French conservator once thought he saw the king's face in the stone. #LeperKing #Angkor #KhmerEmpire #JayavarmanVII #ZhouDaguan #Yama #Hinduism #Buddhism #TerraceOfTheLeperKing #SoutheastAsia #Cambodia #Archaeology #History #FexingoHistory #AncientCivilizations #Mythology #FrenchColonial #AngkorWat Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo