Buddhist monasteries · The Khmer empire of Jayavarman VII · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Preah Khan

Founded in 1191 for the king's father, on ground the inscription says was the site of his victory over the Cham.

Its stele is the single most useful document on the campaign board: it counts the people who serve the foundation at nearly ninety-eight thousand (a claim, not a count) and lists the hospital chapels and rest houses built across the empire, and the 23 towns that received images of the Buddha Jayabuddhamahanatha, of which the western ones are Lavodayapura, Svarnapura, Srijayarajapuri, Srijayavajrapuri, Srijayasimhapuri and Sambukapattana (English Wikipedia). It is a monastery, a university and a royal archive at once, and sits beside the great reservoir called the Jayatataka, with Neak Pean on its island.

Who holds it

Title
Chief priest of the foundation (not named); the stele was composed by the prince Virakumara
Since
not known
Born
not known
Family
not known
Confidence
medium for the foundation, low for the holder

The stele of Preah Khan (K. 908, dated Saka 1113 = 1191; K. number from memory) as reported by the campaign board, English and French Wikipedia: founded for the king's father on the ground of his victory over the Cham; lists the foundation's servants (nearly ninety-eight thousand on the campaign board's reading), the 121 houses with fire, the hospital chapels and 23 towns that received Jayabuddhamahanatha images.

Overlord

Jayavarman VII, the founder.

What it holds

  • The temple, its enclosure and its archive
  • The estate named in the stele (not located)
  • The Jayatataka reservoir and Neak Pean

How things stand that morning

In use for nine years; no event.

Wealth

The stele's claimed servants and villages.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: A dated stele reported at second hand.

On the map: A disc round the enclosure.

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

5 more in the sources library for Mainland Southeast Asia.

Sources and studies

  1. English Wikipedia, Preah Khan
  2. English Wikipedia, Jayavarman VII
  3. Coedes, The Indianized States of Southeast Asia (East-West Center Press, 1968)
  4. 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.