The holy mountain of the kingdom, a sandstone plateau north-east of Angkor, where the first universal king was consecrated in 802, and, much more usefully, the bed of stone that built the temples.
Cut this and the building programme stops. The Samre who live on it owe cardamom. The river that carries the head of the capital's water, the Siem Reap river, rises on its slope and runs over the carved riverbed of Kbal Spean (a consecration of the water, English Wikipedia: carvings of lingas and Vishnus from the 11th and 12th centuries) before it reaches the city.
Who holds it
- Title
- Keepers of the holy mountain's shrines and the quarry gangs
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
The campaign board: the mountain where Jayavarman II declared himself universal king in 802, and the sandstone bed that built Angkor; blocks were cut on the plateau and moved down by canal and sledge, and the quarry faces and loading ponds are still there. The Samre of Mount Kulen owe the Pol Kravanh duty according to English Wikipedia (Chong people).
Overlord
The king.
What it holds
- The quarry faces and loading ponds
- The mountain's shrines
- Kbal Spean, the carved riverbed
How things stand that morning
In use as a quarry and a holy place.
Places of note
- Kbal Spean: The carved riverbed (English Wikipedia coordinates).
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry kbal-spean (13.616, 104.028) lies about 10 km from the English Wikipedia coordinates (13.7084, 104.0256); we use the Wikipedia point.
Evidence: Geography, board and a Wikipedia page for Kbal Spean.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: A disc round the plateau.
Primary sources for Khmer empire
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Abridged History of Viet, Anonymous (attributed by some to Su Hy Nhan) (about 1377, probably as an abridgement of Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272). The oldest surviving Vietnamese history, a century older than the Complete Annals and in places fuller for the Ly dynasty, which fills its second and third books.
- The Complete Annals of Dai Viet, Ngo Si Lien, drawing on Le Van Huu's Dai Viet su ky (1272) and Phan Phu Tien; continued by Pham Cong Tru and Le Hi (1479; printed 1697 in the standard Chinh Hoa edition). The main narrative source for Dai Viet in 1200, compiled in 1479 from Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272. Read online
- The later Tai, Lao and Mon chronicles of the north, Ratanapanna (Jinakalamali); Bodhiramsi (Chamadevivamsa); anonymous monks and court scribes (the Chamadevivamsa about 1410; the Jinakalamali 1516 to 1528; the Chiang Mai Chronicle in its surviving form 1827; the Nithan Khun Borom 16th to 17th century). There is no text of 1200 for the Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya, the Tai muang of Ngoenyang (Chiang Saen), Chiang Rung, the Yom and Nan valleys, or the Lao middle Mekong.
- History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
- History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
- Corpus of the Inscriptions of Campa (EFEO and ISAW), Various (the Cham kings and their officers), edited by Arlo Griffiths, Amandine Lepoutre, William Southworth and Thanh Phan (inscriptions of the 4th to 15th centuries; the online corpus from 2012). The online edition of the Cham inscriptions, with photographs, texts and translations, keyed to the C. numbers. Read online
- The Inscriptions of Cambodia, Various (the Khmer kings and their officers), edited by George Coedes (inscriptions of the 6th to 14th centuries; edited 1937 to 1966). The Khmer empire of 1200 is known almost entirely from the great foundation stelae of Jayavarman VII (reigning from 1181), which Coedes edited: the Ta Prohm stele of 1186 (K. Read online
- The Sanskrit inscriptions of Cambodia and Champa (ISCC), Various (Khmer and Cham kings), edited by Auguste Barth and Abel Bergaigne (inscriptions of the 7th to 12th centuries; edited 1885 to 1893). The founding edition of Khmer and Cham Sanskrit epigraphy, public domain and online, which Coedes's later corpus supersedes but does not replace. Read online
Sources and studies
- English Wikipedia, Kbal Spean
- OMNIA board notes for the Khmer and Lao area (a lead, not a source)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.