Preah Khan, statue of Lokesvara

ASU Libraries undertakes research and accepts public comments that enhance the information we hold about images in our collections. If you can identify a landmark or person please send details to: digitalrepository@asu.edu, opens in a new window. Thank you for helping describe and caption this important historical image.

The object depicted in the image is made of the following material(s): sandstone

Information about the creation of the object depicted in the image: 1191

Information about the restoration of the object depicted in the image: 1939-59, in progress

The object depicted in the image was formerly at Preah Khan

The object depicted in the image was discovered at Preah Khan

The object depicted in the image is held at this repository (as of 2005): National Museum of Phnom Penh

This statue of Lokesvara can be identified by the image of the Buddha Amitabha found in the headdress. The statue was found in the neighboring undergrowth of the temple, and was erected in the main tower in 1943; it is currently in the collection of the National Museum of Phnom Penh. The only two hands which remained holding the disc and the rosary were broken off and stolen in 1945. According to Preah Khan's foundation stele, the statue should have been found in the main tower, and corresponds to the portrait of the father of Jayavarman VII (1181-c.1220), sculpted in the image of the Bodhisattva Lokesvara. Jayavarman VI likely built Preah Khan as his residence during the construction of his capital, Angkor Thom, after the Cham invasion in 1177. The temple was dedicated to Jayavarman VII’s father, Dharanindravarman (1107-1112). The complex was one of Jayavarman VII’s larger projects, and may also have been used as a Buddhist university. Some 97, 840 people served the temple, of whom 1000 were dancers. The Buddhist temple complex is unusual in that it includes Hindu subsidiary temples devoted to Vishnu and Shiva.

Source for information about the object depicted in the image: Jessup, Helen Ibbitson. Art and Architecture of Cambodia. London: Thames & Hudson, 2004. Giteau, Madeleine. Angkor: Un peuple - un art. Paris: Bibliotheque des Arts, 1976.

To request permission to publish please complete the form located at the Department of Archives and Special Collections web site: http://hdl.handle.net/2286/7f5bakntwx1, opens in a new window.