Jayavarman VII married three sisters in turn, on the French Wikipedia reading of Coedes: Jayarajadevi, whose piety is the centre of the Phimeanakas stele and who died early in the reign (the French article has her follow him into exile in Champa; the English article has her at Angkor with her sister while he was away: not pinned); Rajendradevi, named in the Preah Khan stele as mother of the prince Virakumara; and Indradevi, Jayarajadevi's elder sister.
Indradevi was a Sanskrit scholar and the chief teacher of the three schools of Nagendratunga, Tilakottara and Narendrasrama, colleges of Buddhist teaching for women and girls of the elite, and the earliest known female poet of Cambodia. Her stele at the Phimeanakas (K. 485) tells how Jayarajadevi, in the king's absence, taught girls the Jataka and fasted, and so is the main source for the king's conversion.
Her marriage and death are undated and her place in 1200 is not known; the English article says she was a figure of influence in favour of Buddhism.
Who he is
- Name
- Indradevi (probable senior queen); Jayarajadevi dead; Rajendradevi dead or alive not known
- Title
- Chief queen and chief teacher of the Buddhist schools (who is alive on 1 January 1200 is not pinned)
- Since
- Indradevi married the king after the death of her sister, probably after 1181; no date
- Born
- not known; she was the elder sister of Jayarajadevi
- Family
- Sisters, daughters of Princess Hirani-Lakshmi and a royal prince (French Wikipedia); of the royal line
- Confidence
- medium for the names, low for who is alive in 1200
English Wikipedia (Indradevi, after Coedes and Jacobsen, Lost Goddesses 2008), French Wikipedia (Jayavarman VII). The Phimeanakas stele K. 485 is Indradevi's account of her sister's life.
What it holds
- The three Buddhist schools she directed (Nagendratunga, Tilakottara, Narendrasrama), sites not located
- The women's quarters of the royal household
- Dancers, teachers and endowed servants of the schools
How things stand that morning
Not pinned. No source dates the death of any of the three queens. A king of about 75 to 78 may have had a queen alive, but the sources say nothing.
Wealth
Endowments of the three schools (stele K. 485), no figures.
Places of note
- Phimeanakas: Where the stele of Indradevi (K. 485) was set up.
Where the sources disagree
- English Wikipedia (Indradevi) has Jayarajadevi, then Indradevi; French Wikipedia (Jayavarman VII) has three sisters with Rajendradevi between them. We give both and mark the order not pinned.
Evidence: Stele K. 485 is firm; the order and dates of the marriages are secondary-literature readings.
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, Indradevi
- French Wikipedia, Jayavarman VII
- Coedes, The Indianized States of Southeast Asia (East-West Center Press, 1968)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.