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The Discovery of Indradevi and Jayarajadevi, Queens of the 12th Century Khmer Kingdom By Phalika Ngin

©all rights reserved. 23 Dec 2009 /18 Mar 2010

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The Discovery of Two Cambodian Queens of the 12th Century by a Photographer

While these queens are revered and worshipped by the locals, they have been grossly overlooked by both Khmer and

foreign historians, who have dismissed them as a common garden variety of celestial dancers known as apsaras. So

everybody followed and so did I until I noted the “braided” eyebrows, my French friend made me notice, to which I

replied to him. “I don’t think they were braided, but gemstones were removed and left these knitted like little holes.”

The unique feature on the eyebrows with other gemstones hacked off, sparked my interest to discover who they

really were: dancing apsaras, or dancing queens or local goddesses?

An ordinary day of temple exploration has led to an extraordinary discovery. Hidden in a narrow labyrinth of

galleries, amid dark and moss-covered stone walls and ceilings in precarious danger of collapse; there stood before

me two queens of the 12th century Khmer kingdom. It was unknown to the eyes of the world and the Cambodians,

who fondly remembered the queens through oral history with no pictures and rare written notes; nevertheless, ever

present, these stately queens had endured the ravages of time, invading jungle, and human pillage.

I proudly present to you the 12th century Khmer royals, Queen Indradevi and Queen Jayarajadevi.

These sisters were the spouses, professors, and advisers of the beloved and most respected King Jayavarman VII, the

prolific builders of temples, hospitals, and training centers for the people of Cambodia.

On the following days, in a different temple, Bayon, I re-photographed my two favorites sculptures to complete my

portfolio of the ”Sacred Treasures”. While editing the photos, I noticed compelling resemblances of my last 2

sculptures to the queens. The confirmations of their lives and status as queens in Bayon temple were the necessary,

irrefutable proofs I needed. As my curiosity grew about the queens’ mysterious lives, I fashioned a theory that there

was a strong possibility that I might find other renderings of the queens in additional temples built under the same

reign. I feel extremely fortunate to have discovered not just one set, but ten plus sets of sculpted images of these

prominent, surprising, and kindhearted queens in Khmer history.

France has “Mona Lisa.” Egypt has “Cleopatra.” And now Cambodia and the whole world will be inspired by two

influential, beautiful, and compassionate queens, Indradevi and Jayarajadevi. This is an exciting story and discovery

about people of the past by people of the present for people of the future.

However, their time is running out. We must act before all antiques, artifacts, statues, sculptures, and traces of them

are lost forever. I believe there is an urgency to save the queens from further vandalism and collapsing ceilings, and

rightfully place them in a museum, where they belong, to inspire Khmers and free the whole world’s imagination.

They have already survived 800 years with extreme environmental hardship and will not be there for the next ten if

we don’t act now to safeguard them for Khmer history sake and as world heritage treasures. This is a discovery story

as well as an appeal to save the queens!

Best regards,

Phalika Ngin

23 DEC 2009/18 MAR 2010

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The Discovery of Indradevi and Jayarajadevi, Queens of the 12th Century Khmer Kingdom

This discovery was made possible through the focus on two particular sculptures: the sisters and queens Indradevi

and Jayarajadevi, both advisers and wives of King Jayavarman VII.

Queen Indradevi’s unique features exemplify the ideal Khmer beauty, with her oval face accentuated by a long nose

and cleft in her chin. The queens were attired like saints/deities. Their sculpted images can be found in three

temples, Preah Khan, Bayon, and Banteay Kdei, which were built during their reign as a testimony to their historical

influence on that era. When viewed in the context of the royal life depicted in the bas-reliefs located in the 2nd inner

gallery of Bayon temple, these sculptures provide proof-positive evidence that these women existed and corroborate

with the oral legends handed down about them.

Obviously, not all apsaras (defined in Sanskrit or Tep Apsars in Khmer) are celestial dancers; some apsaras might be

royal court dancers, princesses, devatas, saints, goddesses, or queens. It’s unconscionable to categorize and label all

Khmer women of the royal kingdom as apsaras. Clearly, these are sculpted portraits of powerful, influential,

beautiful, and compassionate Queen Jayarajadevi and Queen Indradevi of the 12th century Khmer Kingdom, who

made major contributions to its culture and governance.

The reverberations of their tremendous influence still resonate in the nowadays body of research. These royals left

behind a legacy of wealth cultural heritage that propelled Cambodia on the international stage and made tourism its

first and main economic drive.

Summary of recognized historical fact and cultural context:

Fact 1. They are the known sisters, queens, and royal spouses of King Jayavarman VII. In Bayon, the inner 2nd gallery

bas-relief illustrated the hierarchy and the activities of the King and his two Queens. Please see the notes in the two

bas-reliefs depicting the differences of types and classes of all the figures.

Fact 2. The word “preah ang” means sacred, divinity or saint, and is a formal manner of addressing royalty. In Khmer

mythology and history, it is common to give kings god-like status. King Jayavarman VII was considered as a god-king.

Therefore, his queens would also be considered goddess-queens. (See appended notes) In historical records we

were led to believe that he was a Buddharaja; thus, we “found” the sculpted images and statues of the king by the

thousands in the likeliness of the Buddha, but we only found 3 presumed statues of Queen Jayarajadevi and zero,

none of Queen Indradevi’s statues or sculptures. It was not surprising that at the present, I found more than dozens

of paired sculptures of the sisters-queens in their temples built during their reign, once I differentiated them from

the common apsaras.

Fact 3. In Preah Khan, Queen Indradevi’s sculpture originally had precious gemstones encrusted in her eyebrows and

crown. Gold hoops once dangled from her earlobes and still more gemstones had been woven into her body belt, all

treasures long-ago stolen. The fact that she was adorned in precious gemstones and gold is a revealing feature of her

true royal identity. No other apsara sculptures have ever been encrusted in gold and precious stones in Khmer

history.

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Queen Indradevi in Preah Khan

Fact 4. In Preah Khan, Bayon, Banteay Kdei Temples were built under the same reign only a few years apart. Temple

building averaged 20+ years before completion. In their era (and in nowadays) only the few elites and religious high

order could read Sanskrit. However, all the people, men, women and children of past and in the present can tell the

narratives looking at the bas-reliefs. (See notes on the Bayon bas-reliefs.)

Fact 5. In Bayon and Preah Khan their facial features are unique and recognizable, despite the wear and tear and

minor damages occurring over the centuries. The western, Indian-like traits of Queen Indradevi’s clef chin, oval face,

slight squarish jaw lines, long nose, slightly slanted eyes, elegant eyebrows, and unmistakable smiles are more similar

on both sculptures than different. Striking Chinese/Asian looking facial features on Queen Jayarajadevi are a rounder

face, cute little nose, slanted eyes, and elegant, curling lips either smiling mischievously in life or gracefully in death.

Queen Indradevi in Preah Khan is compared to her images in Bayon:

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Queen Jayarajadevi in Preah Khan is compared to her images in Bayon:

Fact 6. Queen Indradevi was probably named due to her Indian looks. Indra is derived from India, Inde. Indra is also

referred to as a god in Hindu.

Fact 7. At the main entrance in Bayon, their most sacred temple, Queen Jayarajadevi was represented in a dwelling

structure fit for a queen. It had curtains, maids, musicians, and apsara dancers with two other sculptures on her left

side, one of them which is Indradevi. At Bayon, on the second floor, the main tower walls were covered by the

sculptures of these paired queens, recognized by their hallmark attire and standing position of a divinity. In addition,

above their alcoves, the little Buddhas (their King representations, some are left, most are desecrated), were blessing

them reasserting again their status of goddess-queens. On the other side of the main entrance, initially thought as

the many wives of the King, upon closer examination, was Indradevi’s look-alike.

In Bayon Queen Jayarajadevi is seen in her palace like dwelling, and Queen Indradevi is to her left.

Fact 8. Queen Indradevi’s image represents the perfect, idealized features of a Khmer woman. To this day,

Cambodian women and men are desirous of having a cleft chin! This feature is usually considered a masculine and

authoritative trait in the western world.

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Fact 9. In Preah Khan and Bayon, Queen Indradevi’s body posture from hand to foot was the same. Her dress with a fishtail also folded in the same direction.

The queens pose in Preah Khan. Note the neglect and filth to which they

have been subjected as a result of being mislabeled as apsaras.

Fact 10. Sculptures of kings, queens, and common people have been found throughout world history. Why are we

(Westerners lead the discussion and the Khmer people follow) assuming that all apsaras are alike and dismissing

them as mere concubines? “They existed to respond to the passion of the males” so wrote Vittorio Roveda in 1997 in

Khmer Mythology. Other than celestial dancers there is a good probability that these standing apsaras were actually

portraits of princesses, queens, or other women of the court.

Fact 11. No two hand-carved stone sculptures are alike. However, all four sculpted images of the queens have more

similarities than differences. They have been subjected to the harsh, tropical weather for over 800 years. Additional

variables could be: talent of sculptor, quality of stone, age, fashion, condition, and change of status. If four out of

five facial traits of the two sculptures match, this should be considered compelling evidence as to the sculptures

identities, along with other distinguishing features, such as tiaras, earrings, hand-arm positions, garlands, lotus, etc.

Fact 12. The Khmer Apsara Authority, which oversees the work and upkeep of the Angkor grounds, may be too

overwhelmed to take appropriate action, as the AA allocates each temple to a different country to be maintained and

studied. Therefore, as experts, they are limited to the gates of their individual temples and overstepping this

boundary would be considered an international faux pas. This means the discovery process can be painfully slow, if

it moves at all. http://www.autoriteapsara.org/en/apsara/about_apsara/partners_links.html

Fact 13. The only three statues that experts still question as being the image of Queen Jayarajadevi, resemble, in my

opinion, the mother of King Jayavarman VII or a deity other than the queen. (See http://www.guimet.fr/Kneeling-

Tara ) This is the reason for naming her “Prajnaparamita” rather than calling her Queen Jayarajadevi. Her facial traits

closely resemble those of Jayavarman VII’s (See http://www.guimet.fr/Jayavarman-VII ), with the exception of the

queen’s angular eyebrows.

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Consistently, I have found the two sister-queens in saint-like poses, attired regally in gold necklaces, tiaras, earrings,

and rings denote their goddess-queen status. Why does one find only three statues of these celebrated queens, while

King Jayavarman’s Buddha-like representations can be found in hundreds of various forms? It is not surprising that I

have found that the goddess-queens were sculpted in pairs adorning virtually every main entryway in Bayon, Preah

Khan, and Banteay Kdei! They have been called apsaras, and sometimes, referred to as devatas, but never as

queens. The bas-reliefs and stone sculptures are carved pictorials that can be understood in any language in any

time. They have always existed as goddesses-queens among us. This is a revealing exposé of these two sisters-

queens in order to understand their undeniable mystique, intelligence, and influence during the King’s inspiring

reign.

I believe that as Khmers with a rich heritage and due respect for our good kings and queens, had we known about the

existence of Queen Indradevi and Queen Jayarajadevi we would have saved their precious sculptures and placed them

next to King Jayavarman VII in a museum where they rightly belong. We would have not called the queens apsaras

and left them hidden in Preah Khan, endangered by collapsing stone walls.

In conclusion, the queens’ sculptures display exquisite workmanship. They are the most impressive sculptures found

in all the Angkor grounds. Queen Indradevi and Queen Jayarajadevi deserve to be protected and placed in a museum

for the entire world and the Khmer people to cherish.

Queen Indradevi Queen Jayarajadevi

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The new CONSERVATION POLICY at work with COLLAPSED BLOCKS of STONE is destroying these UNIQUE images.

Notes on the attributes, postures, and symbols of the royals:

King Jayavarman VII’s god-like image and attributes:

Statues and sculptures of all sizes resemble a sitting, meditating Buddha. He favored several positions in two

different forms:

a. Meditating with crossed knees and hands open resting on the lap; eyes closed with a peaceful

smile and hair pulled into a chignon and the absence of a cloth across his chest.

b. Meditating in the same sitting position, but on a coiled 7 head naga (cobra) that covered his

entire back. His brilliantly simple traits and symbolic signs were intended to influence the

population, but all symbols, sculptures, and statues of him became easy targets of mass destruction

by his enemies over the centuries.

Queen Indradevi and Queen Jayarajadevi’s goddess-images and attributes:

1. Thus far, the two have always been found together in a pair. Where Indradevi was found, Queen Jayarajadevi

was nearby.

2. They usually wore a peacock-like tiara or crown, with 8+ flowerets.

3. Their favored earrings were small bunched rings or earrings fashioned like the body belts.

4. Most of time they wore several necklaces adorning the chest from the neckline to the breast line with body

lace or belts across the torso encircling to the waist line.

5. They wore jasmine-like garlands that serpentine from one side to the next, like a shawl.

6. They posed with specific arms and hands position. An arm is up at shoulder level and the hand in the form of

a karana mutra, a gesture for banishing an enemy or warding off evil. The other arm elegantly hanging at the

side of the body with the hand in a form of varada mudra, the palm of the hand facing forward, symbolizing

charity, and compassion.

7. In the three temples, the fashion of the dress looked the same, with the fishtail to the left or to the right.

8. Added bonuses: Standing in a dwelling structure with musicians, the king, maids, dancing apsaras, and or a

servant at the pedestal and a bird, or standing on the lotus flower or pod, or a praying Buddha on top on the

alcove.

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The queens’ images and poses in Banteay Kdei.

Notes on the Royal Bas-Reliefs of the Inner 2nd Gallery of Bayon:

A day in the Royal Life of King Jayavarman VII, Queen Jayarajadevi, and Queen Indradevi , as illustrated in a bas-relief

at Bayon, 2nd floor inner gallery on the North side, 17 March 2010

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From top to bottom, the hierarchy of the social classes and etiquettes is observed.

Top level above the roofing, celestial apsaras give blessings to the King and Queens. For each royal, note the

elaborate roofing of their palace.

Top level below the roofing (3rd floor), the King’s image is larger and his head is elevated above the others. The next

largest image is of Queen Jayarajadevi, to the left of King Jayavarman VII, the 1st recognized wife. Her head is

elevated above Queen Indradevi, who is to the right of the King. All royals are sitting above a platform; next to each

are servants fanning with long handle fans.

On the 2nd floor, on the right side, the court ladies and noblemen sit on the floor watching the dancing apsaras

perform to the tune of an all-women orchestra of musicians.

On the 1st floor, the commoners congregate. In the seemingly anecdotal bas-relief of their royal history, the queens

have also defined for us the two categories of the “apsara”, celestial and dancing.

In the same inner gallery on the NE side, there is a horizontal bas-relief depicting the royal court as well.

In this bas-relief, the royal hierarchy of the court is clearly depicted (from right to left) as the King with his TWO

Queens, the dancing apsaras, and a musician, respectively, and the noblemen facing the king.

Also, there exists a distinct representation in the attire and posture of the dancing apsaras in King Jayavarman VII’s

era versus the standing, dancing apsaras of Angkor Wat’s era.

Clearly depicted these 2 bas-reliefs are the distinctions and differences, as well as the importance, of women figures

during the reign of King Jayavarman VII -- from the celestial apsaras giving blessings, to the two queens sitting with

their King, to the dancing apsaras and ladies of the royal court. This is an amazing lesson from the past that ends the

confusion surrounding of the word “apsara” – which the Queens are NOT (as we have incorrectly labeled them).

The truth has now prevailed.

Phalika Ngin

www.phalikan.com

March 18, 2010