The arts of the Khmer kingdom are among the most sophisticated in Asia, combining decorative elaboration with classical stability and elegance. Jayavarman II is generally considered the founder of the Khmer empire. Around 800 he established his royal court, where he stressed both his role as a god-king and parallels between the temples he built and the gods’ abode of Mount Meru. He regarded Shiva as his personal deity and established a cult of the royal linga. The DMA linga is an example this adaptation of a Shaivite motif into Khmer mythology (cat. 117). The next few centuries saw Angkor become a great city with elaborate temples. Some kings, like Suryavarman I, patronized both Hinduism and Buddhism, although the Khmer kings remained predominantly Hindu. Great monuments like the Baphuon (eleventh century) and Angkor Wat (twelfth century), with their supremely rhythmic and elegant relief sculptures on themes from the Hindu epics, as well as scenes from daily and ceremonial life including military processions and dance, mark a high point in Cambodian art. Works in the collection that reflect the splendors of the Angkor period include the strong and sensitive head of a deity (cat. 118), the smoothly cubic and abstract linga (cat. 117), the powerful rearing lion (cat. 119), and the corner relief with devatas, representing the dancing girls of the Khmer court as auspicious heavenly entertainers (cat. 126). In 1177 Angkor was captured by the Cham rulers from Vietnam. This was the beginning of the decline of Khmer power, though this trend was interrupted in the thirteenth century by Jayavarman VII, who reestablished Khmer rule at Angkor and committed himself to the support of Buddhism. His construction of the Bayon complex in the center of Angkor Thom remains his greatest achievement. The Bayon temple mountain is a Buddhist monument, celebrated for its colossal faces carved in relief, often interpreted as representing bodhisattvas. The site also includes Hindu motifs, for example gods and demons churning the ocean of milk, a Hindu myth of creation, depicted on the bridge approaching the Bayon. The DMA’s monumental asura is rendered in the Bayon style (cat. 124). The popularity of the cult of the nagas, or sacred serpents, whose worship goes back to prehistory, may be seen in the DMA bronze sculpture of the Buddha, in which the cobra figure of the naga king protects the Buddha as he meditates, having achieved enlightenment (cat. 125). The protective serpent, which appears in the original Indian story of the Buddha’s life, also relates to indigenous ideas, as nagas in Khmer belief are symbols of divine kingship and also associated with fertility and rain.
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Fig. 42 Dancers performing a Ramayana story, Thailand.
TH E A RTS O F S O U THEA TH A SSIA T AAT S IA THE DAL L AS MUSE UM OF ART