HISTORY Of KHMER TEMPLES

'Syam Kuk' Siamese mercenaries in Suryavarman II 's army, south gallery of Angkor Wat

An inscription of 1186 from Sai Fong, on the Mekong near Vientiane, is the mast northerly known. 12th and 13th century Chinese accounts (the Ling-wai Tai-ta of 1178, and that of Chao Ju-kua of 1225) relate that Khmer control extended into present-day Burma end part of the Malay Peninsula, The last large Khmer settlement discovered in Thailand is that of Muang Singh, west of The Chao Phraya near present-day Kanchanaburi. Although hastily built in laterite, with only traces remaining of the stucco work with which it was decorated, the sanctuary and surrounding earthen ramparts indicate that this was an important foundation, its settlement no doubt guarding the western frontier.

Other constructions of the period, for which The style is that of the Bayon, are hospitals and rest-houses a1ong The major roads, The 1191 stele at Preah Khan, the temple consecrated 10 the memory of Jayavarman VII' s father, describes 121 "house, with fire" - the rest-houses or way-stations built a day's walk apart from each other (approximately 15 km). In addition, the stele of Ta Prohm, consecrated to the memory of Jayavarman VII 's mother, mentions 102 hospitals. One of the principal routes of the Empire was the rood leading north-west from Angkor to Phimai, passing the important temples of Ta Muen Thom, Muang Tam and Phnom Rung. Along this road 17 rest-houses were built, of which eight have been found. At the Ta Muen Pass are two of the best-preserved chapels of these constructions: that of Ta Muen from the rest-house and that of Ta Muen Toch from the hospital.

The art of this Bayon period is Buddhist in inspiration, and the statuary found in Thailand is extensive, One very distinctive form of statue is of a seated heavy-set man, hair pulled back into a chignon, with closed eyes and a faint smile indicating on inner Buddhist peace - not dissimilar from the expression on The face-towers.
Several such statues - or parts - hove been found, one of them in Thailand, and they ore c1earlv on idealised portrait of the king. In addition, stone Buddhas under nagas abound, and numerous bronzes of the Buddha, bodhisattvas and Buddhist deities From Muang Singh ore two important stone statues of the so-called 'radiating' Lokesvara.

The end of Jayavarman VII 's reign effectively marks the end of Khmer building in permanent materials, and thus the end of The remains known to us. Even more significant in The Chao Phraya volley and on the Khorat Plateau is that Jayavormcl1 VII 's death around 1220 coincides with the break-away from Angkor. Although the dates are uncertain, The beginnings what Louis Finot coiled the Tai "inundation" were about this time. The start of the century saw the foundation of small Tai principalities in present-day Laos and the Shan States of Burma; by its end the Tai had moved into, and token control of, the northern and central parts of the Chao Phraya valley and its tributaries. In 1287, the three Tai rulers Mengrai of Chiangmai, Ngan Muang of Phayao and Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai concluded their famous treaty, and the Siamese era had begun Sukhothai, which had been a provincial Khmer seat, must have fallen to the Siamese around the time of the death of Jayavarman VII. During This period Louvo also must hove been taken, or else declared its independence from Angkor, for if sent its own embassies once more to China between 1289 and 1299. The last account to report the Khmer in control of provinces beyond lowland Cambodia is Chao Ju-kua's Chu•fon•chih in 1225, which includes Lo-hu (Louvo) and P' u-kan (Pagan) among its dependencies What happened on the Khorat Plateau is unknown, but linguistically at least, a belt of Khmer speakers still occupies the southern part of the plateau.

The Angkorean period continued for two more centuries, and while the provinces had gained their independence, and there was no further building of significance in Cambodia after Jayavarman VII, the Empire still flourished The famous account of Angkor at the end of the 13th century, written by Chou Ta-Kuan, records the life of a prosperous city, dominated by magnificent temples "which hove caused merchants from overseas to speak so often of 'Cambodia the rich and noble' ".

However, the end of Angkor was already in sight, as the Siamese , with their newly consolidated power in the central Chao Phraya valley, began to harass the Khmers. In his same account, Chou Ta-Kuan mentions "I have heard it said that in war with the Siamese universal military service was required". Siamese chronicles, though of suspect reliability, give two dales, 1352 and 1394, on which Ayutthayan armies succeeded in taking Angkor Thereafter, nothing is known of The wars between The two nations until the final indisputable socking of Angkor in 1431, 'when the Khmer king Dhammashokaraja was killed. The city was abandoned after this forever as being too difficult to defend.

The Khmer legacy in Thailand was considerable. Some Khmer sites, such as Sukhothai and Si Satchanalai, were retained by the Siamese as foundations for their own cities and temple. The immediate response in The 13th century appears to have been a reaction against Khmer design. Under Ramkhamhaeng al Sukhothai, Siamese art, architecture and political systems seem to hove developed in deliberate contrast Khmer authoritarianism, although Siamese script, the invention of which is attributed to Ramkhamhaeng, was derived directly from the more complex Khmer system. When Ayutthaya become the centre of Siamese power, the pendulum began to swing back with a full•blown Khmer Revival, which coincided with The campaigns against Angkor (1350 to 1430) This deliberate return to Khmer influence was felt in sculpture (the U Thong school), architecture (the evolution of the Tai prong from the Khmer sanctuary towers) and in the political and administrative system, focused on a monarchy that revived the claims for divine power.