Other lordship · The Khmer empire of Jayavarman VII · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Sdok Kok Thom house

The temple of Sdok Kok Thom is small, but its stele is the longest connected family history of the Angkor period: a Brahmin line that served as royal chaplain from the founding of the kingdom to the reign of Suryavarman I and then disappears from the record.

It stands on the western road, in the Sa Kaeo country, the last Khmer foundation of weight before the Chao Phraya plain. The lord or priest of 1200 is not known; no later stele names one, and the temple became a Buddhist place of worship at some later date (English Wikipedia). It is the model for how a priestly house held land and office, not a power with a known holder in 1200.

Who he is

Name
not known for 1200
Title
Head of the priestly house (the line is last named in the stele)
Since
the line is traced from Sivakaivalya, chaplain of Jayavarman II (802)
Born
not known
Family
English Wikipedia (Sdok Kok Thom): nine generations from Sivakaivalya to Sadasiva. Sadasiva left the holy orders, married a sister of the chief queen of Suryavarman and was put in charge of construction projects. The family is never mentioned again in inscriptions.
Confidence
high for the stele, none for 1200

English Wikipedia (Sdok Kok Thom): stele K. 235, 340 lines of Sanskrit and Old Khmer, dated 8 February 1053 (Saka 974); the page counts twelve kings in the text. The 'stele of 1052' in the brief and the campaign board is the same text (Saka 974 runs from spring 1052; February falls in 1053).

Overlord

The kings of Angkor, whom the house served as chaplains and temple builders.

What it holds

  • The temple of Sdok Kok Thom (11th century, built under Udayadityavarman II), its avenue and baray
  • The family's endowed lands (not located)

How things stand that morning

The temple stands; the house is not heard of in the stelae after the 11th century. Who serves it is not known.

Places of note

  • Sdok Kok Thom: Temple with the stele K. 235.

Where the sources disagree

  • The campaign board entry sdok-kok-thom (13.887, 102.639) lies about 12 km from the English Wikipedia coordinates (13.8437, 102.7375); we use the Wikipedia point.
  • The stele is 8 February 1053 on English Wikipedia and 1052 in the brief and board; Saka 974 explains both.

Evidence: One great stele; nothing after it.

"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 temple only; the family's estates are not located.

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, Sdok Kok Thom
  2. Coedes, The Indianized States of Southeast Asia (East-West Center Press, 1968)
  3. 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.