Jayavarman IV
Encyclopedia
Early Years
Jayavarman IV was an AngkorianKhmer Empire
The Khmer Empire was one of the most powerful empires in Southeast Asia. The empire, which grew out of the former kingdom of Chenla, at times ruled over and/or vassalized parts of modern-day Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Burma, and Malaysia. Its greatest legacy is Angkor, the site of the capital city...
king who ruled from 928 to 941 CE. Many early historians thought that he was a usurper. However, recent evidence shows that he had a legitimate claim to the throne. He was the son of king Indravarman I
Indravarman I
Indravarman I was a ruler of Khmer Empire who reigned from Hariharalaya between 877/78 and 889/890 AD.-Indravarman's ancestors:According to the inscriptions of the Práḥ Kô temple, consecrated on Monday, the 25th January 880 AD Indravarman I was a ruler of Khmer Empire who reigned from Hariharalaya...
's daughter, Mahendradevi, and was married to his aunt, a half-sister of king Yasovarman I. Because there were no clear rules of succession, his claim for the throne through a maternal line seemed to be valid. He contested the reigns of Yasovarman I's sons at Angkor since the death of their father. In 921 he set up his own capital at Koh Ker
Koh Ker
Koh Ker is an Angkorian site in northern Cambodia. 100 km northeast of Angkor itself, it was briefly the capital of the Khmer empire between 928 and 944 under king Jayavarman IV and his son Hasavarman II.After the Khmer empire had been established in the Angkor area , Jayavarman IV moved the...
: an inscription dated 921 states, "Jayavarman IV left the city of Yashodharapura to reign at Chok Gargyar taking the Devaraja with him." The rivalry lasted from 921 until the death of Ishanavarman II
Ishanavarman II
Ishanavarman II was an Angkorian king who is believed to have ruled from 923 to 928. His empire may have been confined to Angkor and the area around Battambang to the west. The younger son of Yasovarman I succeeded his dead brother. The period of his reign may have been very tumultuous and chaotic...
in 928, after which Jayavarman IV reigned supreme.
Koh Ker
Famous for its ancient ruins, Koh KerKoh Ker
Koh Ker is an Angkorian site in northern Cambodia. 100 km northeast of Angkor itself, it was briefly the capital of the Khmer empire between 928 and 944 under king Jayavarman IV and his son Hasavarman II.After the Khmer empire had been established in the Angkor area , Jayavarman IV moved the...
can be reached more easily then in recent past thanks to a payment road. This old capital city of Jayavarman IV remained abandoned for over a thousand years before French scholars, like Louis Delaporte
Louis Delaporte
Louis Delaporte was a French explorer and artist, whose collection and documentation of Khmer art formed the nucleus of exhibitions in Paris, originally at the 1878 Paris Exposition and later at the Palais du Trocadéro, where he became chief curator of the Musée Indochinois...
and Étienne Aymonier
Étienne Aymonier
Étienne François Aymonier was a French linguist and explorer. He was the first archaeologist to systematically survey the ruins of the Khmer empire in today's Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and southern Vietnam...
, had been visiting and studying at the end of 19th century. During his reign the capital city was known as Chok Gargyar (the Island of Glory) or Lingapura. There was a walled city of about 1200 m2, but subsidiary temples are scattered on a surrounding area of 35 square kilometers. The main zone encompasses the Rahal baray
Baray
A baray is an artificial body of water which is a common element of the architectural style of the Khmer Empire of Southeast Asia. The largest are the East Baray and West Baray in the Angkor area, each rectangular in shape, oriented east-west and measuring roughly five by one and a half miles....
(1,188 x 548 m) and Prasat Thom complex, with its seven-tiered pyramid 30 metres high. The summit of the temple housed a colossal linga, now disappeared, probably made of metal casing as high as almost 5 metres. Inscription K.187E designates the Old Khmer name for this linga as kamrateṅ jagat ta rājya, “the god who is the king”. "Jayavarman IV's inscriptions boasted that his constructions surpassed those of previous kings." A large number of the best and largest Angkorian sculptures were made during his reign, e.g. the Garuda
Garuda
The Garuda is a large mythical bird or bird-like creature that appears in both Hindu and Buddhist mythology.From an Indian perspective, Garuda is the Hindu name for the constellation Aquila and...
standing in the entrance of National Museum of Cambodia. A royal highway lead to Beng Mealea
Beng Mealea
Beng Mealea is a temple in the Angkor Wat style located 40 km east of the main group of temples at Angkor, Cambodia, on the ancient royal highway to Preah Khan Kompong Svay.-The temple:...
at south and to Angkor
Angkor
Angkor is a region of Cambodia that served as the seat of the Khmer Empire, which flourished from approximately the 9th to 15th centuries. The word Angkor is derived from the Sanskrit nagara , meaning "city"...
at west.
Tax Collection
To build a magnificent city in such a short period of about 20 years, it must have required an enormous amount of wealth and labor. The majority of Jayavarman's inscriptions are from Koh KerKoh Ker
Koh Ker is an Angkorian site in northern Cambodia. 100 km northeast of Angkor itself, it was briefly the capital of the Khmer empire between 928 and 944 under king Jayavarman IV and his son Hasavarman II.After the Khmer empire had been established in the Angkor area , Jayavarman IV moved the...
, but they had been found also in sites on the borders of khmer dominion, as Nong Pang Puey (near Aranyaprathet)) and Phnom Bayang (Mekong Delta
Mekong Delta
The Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a large portion of southwestern Vietnam of . The size of the area covered by water depends on the season.The...
). They shed some lights as to how this was being done. Labor forces were gathered from many provinces and taxes were paid in kind: such as, rice, wax, honey, elephants or cloth. Contrast to many ancient civilizations, Angkor did not mint any coin to use as currency
Currency
In economics, currency refers to a generally accepted medium of exchange. These are usually the coins and banknotes of a particular government, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply...
. Tax collection in those days was probably performed by a tamrvac (modern: tamruot, or policeman). A tamrvac or “royal inspector” had his real authority in the provinces. Taxes were collected from all the territories that Jayavarman IV had controlled. The tax collection system was very efficient if not brutal. As for those who refused to pay, they will be "caged by the elders and placed before the king for sentence." However, the king, palace functionaries, monks and slaves were exempt from paying taxes.
Posthumous Name
Jayavarman IV died in 941 and received the posthumous name of Paramashivapada. His succession was not peacefully and his young son Harshavarman IIHarshavarman II
Harshavarman II was an Angkorian king who ruled from 941 to 944. He succeeded his father in 941; however, his reign at Koh Ker was brief. His cousin, Rajendravarman II, wrestled the power away from him and moved the capital back to Yashodharapura. He died in 944 and received the posthumous name of...
reigned briefly until 944. Then Rajendravarman, who was both uncle and first cousin of Harshavarman, returned the capital at Yasodharapura
Yasodharapura
Yaśodharapura was the first capital of the Khmer empire to be built at the Angkor site. The city was built during the reign of King Yasovarman I after the palace in the previous capital at Roluos was burned during his struggle to consolidate power upon the death of the previous king, his...
.