The Syncretism of Religions in Southeast Asia, Especially in the Khmer Empire

The author, the first modern researcher having assembled most of the academic corpus in Khmer studies for the English-speaking public, condensates the many forms of religious and philosophical syncretisms at the core of the Khmer civilization.

Of particular interest is the author’s focus on the figure of Lokeshvara, also known as Avalokiteshvara. He notes that this so specificallyh Khmer deity ​“did not figure prominently in the early part of the reign of Jayavarman VII. Preah Shan of Angkor was dedicated to that deity and Ta Prohm — to Prajnaparamita, and Coedes points out that they form the Buddhic Trinity, with the Bayon dedicated to the Buddha in its proper place in the center. Smiling bodhisattvas with cylin- drical chignon began to appear in the earliest face-towers of the second period of the Style of the Bayon. 

‘But in the third period, images of Ijokesvara came in an avalanche. This was the era of sculptured images. Like the monuments, most of the sculptured figures of ancient Cambodia belong to the reign of Jayavarman VII. According to the inscription of Ta Prohm, 260 small statues were deposited in that temple, while those of Preah Khan numbered 515.’