"a place is a space with a memory.

" Part I
Yashodhapura
Dr Uday Dokras

The favorite fable about the people and monuments of the Ancient Khmer Empire is that they
are surrounded in mystery and that we know nothing about them.
Lawrence Palmer Briggs, United States Consul in Indo- China author of A Pilgrimage to
Angkor and by his articles on Cambodia and on ancient Siam, published in the Far Eastern
Quarterly and in the Journal of the American Oriental Society.

PRELUDE
We know very little about Hinduism in the Khmer times and even before Khmer Kingdom
became dominant around the time Jayavarman II took charge of the vassel states. What we
know is that by that time it was a people drenched in staunch HINDUISM- replete with
Sanskrit as official language, Huge temples everywhere to satisfy the Hindu Gods, and names
fron the Hindu epics and hindu dogma itself including and especially so- the names of the
Royal Family members and geographical locations named after Hindu Gods to give them
infalliaility and attract the blessings of the heavens.
Therefore it is striking and interesting to try to understand if ASTROLOGY played any part
in naming of these cities and its people. Te onlyb way to do this is to analyze the names
astrologically and numerically.
I am particularly interested in the name Yashodhar the capital city of Angora also called
Yashodharpura and built by among others King Yahovarman, based upon as I understand an
undying love for KRIHNA known as Yashodhar literally meaning one who holds VICTORY(
in his hands?) and the concept of Yashodhar ( Hindu God KRISHNA)

I N T R O D U C T I O N
The city of Yashodharpura or Angkor was a phenomenal city was established in the late 9th
century, when it became the home of Khmer King Yashovarman I. At that stage it was a
small, modest settlement. Over the following 500 years a huge amount of power became
concentrated in Angkor. It was the heart of the Khmer Empire, which grew and grew and
grew. From this central base at Angkor, the empire’s territory eventually stretched as far
north as China, as far south as what as what is now southern Thailand, as far west as
Myanmar and as far east as Vietnam.

The Khmer empire accumulated so much wealth and boasted such a vast workforce that it
had the means to turn Angkor into a symbol of Khmer supremacy. Not only was its
architecture remarkable, but the concept to represent a universe from Hindu cosmology.
Anchoring the city was its only natural hill, Phnom Bakheng, with each of Angkor’s temples
then positioned in “orbit” around this hill, while the city’s outer walls symbolized the edge of
the cosmos and its irrigation system represented the rivers of this universe.
1. Edge of the Cosmos Orbit
 2. The rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Saraswathi, Narmada, Sindhu (Indus) and
Kaveri are referred to as the 'Sapta nadis' in Hindu mythology.

1. Mahendraparvata's origins is around 802 AD thus predating Angkor Wat by about

350 years.
2. Ishanapura was the capital of the Chenla Empire in the late 6th and early 7th
centuries CE. The archaeological area comprises 186 sandstone temples in a
unique architectural style (the Sambor Prei Kuk style) from which the Angkorian
style gradually developed. The style of the temples comes from Hindu tradition
with influences from Buddhism and animism.
3. The Angkor area, one of the largest archaeological areas in the world, was the site
of different capitals of the Khmer Empire from the 9th to the 15th century. The
temples of Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon, as well as the nearby Banteay
Srei and the temples of Roluos depict different periods of Khmer architecture and
are richly decorated with sculptures and stone carvings. Khmer art had an
important influence on the wider region. Upon inscription, the site was listed
as endangered to ensure conservation.

BEGINNING of the ANGKORISAN (KHMER) Period

The Angkorian period may have begun shortly after 800 AD, when the Khmer King
Jayavarman II announced the independence of Kambujadesa (Cambodia)
from Java and established his capital of Hariharalaya (now known as Roluos) at the
northern end of Tonlé Sap. Through a program of military campaigns, alliances,
marriages and land grants, he achieved a unification of the country bordered by China
to the north, Champa (now Central Vietnam) to the east, the ocean to the south and a
place identified by a stone inscription as "the land of cardamoms and mangoes" to the
west. In 802, Jayavarman articulated his new status by declaring himself "universal
monarch" (chakravartin) and, in a move that was to be imitated by his successors and
that linked him to the cult of Siva, taking on the epithet of "god-king" (devaraja).
[8]
Before Jayavarman, Cambodia had consisted of a number of politically independent
principalities collectively known to the Chinese by the names Funan and Chenla.
Ascension: In 889, Yasovarman ascended to the throne. A great king and an
accomplished builder, he was celebrated by one inscription as "a lion-man; he tore the
enemy with the claws of his grandeur; his teeth were his policies; his eyes were the
Veda." Near the old capital of Hariharalaya, Yasovarman constructed a new city,
called Yaśodharapura.
In the tradition of his predecessors, he also constructed a massive reservoir called
baray. The significance of such reservoirs has been debated by modern scholars, some
of whom have seen in them a means of irrigating rice fields, and others of whom have
regarded them as religiously charged symbols of the great mythological oceans
surrounding Mount Meru, the abode of the gods. The mountain, in turn, was
represented by an elevated temple, in which the "god-king" was represented by a
lingam. In accordance with this cosmic symbolism, Yasovarman built his central
temple on a low hill known as Phnom Bakheng, surrounding it with a moat fed from
the baray. He also built numerous other Hindu temples and ashrams, or retreats for
ascetics
Angkor ( 'Capital city'), also known as Yasodharapura (Sanskrit: यशोधरपुर), was the
capital city of the Khmer Empire. The city and empire flourished from approximately the 9th
to the 15th centuries. The city houses the Angkor Wat, one of Cambodia's most popular
tourist attractions.
The name Angkor is derived from nokor, a Khmer word meaning "kingdom" which in turn
derived from Sanskrit nagara (नगर), meaning "city".The Angkorian period began in AD 802,
when the Khmer Hindu monarch Jayavarman II declared himself a "universal monarch" and
"god-king", and lasted until the late 14th century, first falling under Ayutthayan suzerainty in
1351.
Later on a Khmer rebellion against Siamese authority resulted in the 1431 sacking of Angkor
by Ayutthaya, causing its population to migrate south to Longvek.
The ruins of Angkor are located amid forests and farmland north of the Great Lake (Tonlé
Sap) and south of the Kulen Hills, near modern-day Siem Reap city (13°24′N, 103°51′E),
in Siem Reap Province. The temples of the Angkor area number over one thousand, ranging
in scale from nondescript piles of brick rubble scattered through rice fields to the Angkor
Wat, said to be the world's largest single religious monument. Many of the temples at Angkor
have been restored, and together, they comprise the most significant site of Khmer
architecture. Visitors approach two million annually, and the entire expanse, including
Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom is collectively protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In 2007, an international team of researchers using satellite photographs and other modern
techniques concluded that Angkor had been the largest pre-industrial city in the world, with
an elaborate infrastructure system connecting an urban sprawl of at least 1,000 square
kilometres (390 sq mi) to the well-known temples at its core. Angkor is considered to be a
"hydraulic city" because it had a complicated water management network, which was used
for systematically stabilizing, storing, and dispersing water throughout the area. This network
is believed to have been used for irrigation in order to offset the unpredictable monsoon
season and to also support the increasing population. Although the size of its population
remains a topic of research and debate, newly identified agricultural systems in the Angkor
area may have supported between 750,000 and one million people.
today's Kompong Cham. After he eventually returned to his home, the former kingdom
of Chenla, he quickly built up his influence, conquered a series of competing kings, and in
790 became king of a kingdom called Kambuja by the Khmer. He then moved his court
northwest to Mahendraparvata, in present day Kulen mountains, far inland north from the
great lake of Tonle Sap.

Second Capital: He also established the city of Hariharalaya (now known as Roluos) at the
northern end of Tonlé Sap. Through a program of military campaigns, alliances, marriages
and land grants, he achieved a unification of the country bordered by China to the
north, Champa (now Central Vietnam) to the east, the ocean to the south and a place
identified by a stone inscription as "the land of cardamoms and mangoes" to the west. In 802,
Jayavarman articulated his new status by declaring himself "universal monarch"
(chakravartin) and, in a move that was to be imitated by his successors and that linked him to
the cult of Siva, taking on the epithet of "god-king" (devaraja). Before Jayavarman,
Cambodia had consisted of a number of politically independent principalities collectively
known to the Chinese by the names Funan and Chenla.
 VARIANTS of the name of the city

 Angkor Wat/Angakorwat (अंगकोरवाट)

 Angkor Thom/Angakorthom (अंगकोरथोम)
 Angkorian
 Yashodharapura/ Yasodharapura/ Yaśodharapura (यशोधरपुर)
 Yashodharapura (यशोधरपुर) = Kambupuri (कम्बुपुरी)
 Kambupuri (

Yashovarman and Yashodharpura

Over the next 300 years, between 900 and 1200, the Khmer Empire produced some of the
world's most magnificent architectural masterpieces in the area known as Angkor. Most are
concentrated in an area approximately 15 miles (24 km) east to west and 5 miles (8.0 km)
north to south, although the Angkor Archaeological Park, which administers the area,
includes sites as far away as Kbal Spean, about 30 miles (48 km) to the north. Some 72 major
temples or other buildings are found within this area, and the remains of several hundred
additional minor temple sites are scattered throughout the landscape beyond.
Because of the low-density and dispersed nature of the medieval Khmer settlement pattern,
Angkor lacks a formal boundary, and its extent is therefore difficult to determine. However, a
specific area of at least 1,000 km2 (390 sq mi) beyond the major temples is defined by a
complex system of infrastructure, including roads and canals that indicate a high degree of
connectivity and functional integration with the urban core. In terms of spatial extent
(although not in terms of population), this makes it the largest urban agglomeration in
recorded history prior to the Industrial Revolution, easily surpassing the nearest claim by
the Mayan city of Tikal At its peak, the city occupied an area greater than modern Paris, and
its buildings use far more stone than all of the Egyptian structures combined.

Yasodharapura( Sanskrit: यशोधरपुर "Yaśōdharapura"), also known as Angkor is a city

that was the second capital of the Khmer Empire (after Amarendrapura), established by
King Yasovarman I in the late 9th century and centred on the temple of Phnom Bakheng.
Yasodharapura was referred to in the inscriptions as Phnom Kandal (Central Mountain).
Phnom Bakheng was constructed just before the foundation of Yasodharapura due to
Yasovarman's belief that the mountain was among the holiest of places to worship
the Hindu deities. Yashodharapura was linked to an earlier capital, Hariharalaya, by
a causeway. The urban complex included the Yashodharatataka.
The succeeding capitals built in the area were called Yasodharapura. One of those is Angkor
Thom, centred on the Bayon temple by King Jayavarman VII (1181-1218AD).
In 1352, King U Thong (also known as Ramathibodi I of the Ayutthaya Kingdom) laid siege
to it. The Ayutthaya were successful the next year in capturing the city, placing one of their
princes on the throne. In 1357 the Khmer regained it. Angkor Thom was raided and
abandoned in the 15th century by King Borommarachathirat II of Ayutthaya.
Between the tenth and fourteenth centuries, the kingdom that we call Angkor dominated
much of mainland Southeast Asia. Its capital at Yasopdharapura, north of Cambodia’s Great
Lake, held over a million people, making it one of the most populous cities in the world. Its
riches came from controlling manpower and natural resources for hundreds of miles in each
direction and from trade with prosperous kingdoms elsewhere in Asia.

Because its houses and most of its buildings were made of wood, thatch and bamboo, they
have disappeared without a trace. What we know about Yasodharapura, which was
abandoned in the sixteenth century, comes from what remains of its walls, reservoirs, roads
and above all, its religious buildings, which were built of stone and laterite to honor the
Buddha or a pantheon of Indian gods. Angkor Wat, built in the early twelfth century, served
as a monument to a powerful king, Suryavarman II, and also as his tomb, The temple,
dedicated to Vishnu, covers over a square mile. Its beautifully carved bas relieves depict
scenes from the Indian epic, the Ramayana and from Suryavarman’s life. They also display
the god of the underworld, Yama, sending people to heaven or to hell.

“Angkor” was a complex civilization with its kings at the apex of society. Most of the people
who built the temples and grew food for the elite were rice farmers, using techniques that
have endured with little alteration until the present day. The Khmer were also skillful builders
and talented artists in stone and wood. Khmer engineers designed impressive reservoirs and
arrow-straight roads connecting Cambodian cities, and Khmer poets composed the elaborate
inscriptions that survive at many of the temples. Cambodian warriors attacked neighboring
kingdoms and defended Yasodharapura against invaders. Many of these “everyday”
contributions are forgotten when we visit the temples, or when we view Cambodia’s ethereal
classical dance. If we look at the way that Cambodian farmers near the ruins live their lives;
however, we can get some idea of the lives of ordinary Khmer, a thousand years ago.

In the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, a powerful king, Jayavarman VII (r. 1180-
1220) rebuilt the walls of Yasopdharapura and placed his temple mountain, the Bayon at the
center of the redesigned city. Bas-reliefs on the temple depict battles with the neighboring
kingdom of Champa, and vivid scenes of twelfth century Cambodian life. Jayavarman was a
pious Buddhist, and larger than life size portrait statues of him have been found at several
sites. He was also the last king at Angkor to patronize the construction of stone temples
dedicated to the Buddha and to Hindu gods. In the thirteenth century, most Cambodians
converted to Theravada Buddhism, the somewhat austere variant followed by the Khmer
people today.

Yasodharapura remained a grand and prosperous city for at least two hundred years after
Jayavarman’s death. It was partially abandoned in 1431 following an invasion by Thai
armies. Soon afterwards, Cambodia’s capital shifted to the south. In the 1500s a Cambodian
king visited the old city, restored some temples and probably installed himself in
Yasodharapura for a time. Pilgrims often visited Angkor Wat and there was a Buddhist
monastery for centuries beside the temple, but Yasodharapura was forgotten by the outside
world and the forest slowly reclaimed it.

In the l860s France established a protectorate over Cambodia, and ruled benignly for ninety
years. The French were thrilled to “ discover” Yasodharapura, and brought the ruins to the
attention of the world. French scholars also deciphered the inscriptions, dated the temples and
rediscovered the names and sequence of forgotten Angkorean kings. The French also restored
the temples, and built roads that made them accessible to tourists.
Under King Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia gained its independence in l953. For seventeen
years, Cambodia was at peace, and French archaeologists, aided by Khmer, continued their
work at Yasodharapura. The civil war of l970-1975 and the ruinous Khmer Rouge era that
followed meant that no work was done at Angkor. Serious restorations resumed in the late
l980s. Today, missions from France, Italy, Japan and other countries are busy at Angkor,
which has become a popular tourist site, visited each year by several hundred thousand
people.

Its “legacy” consists of the extraordinary artistic and engineering talents that the ruins reveal.
These talents are on view today in Cambodian classical dance and among the openhearted,
inventive and resilient people who struggle to make ends meet in their poor, overcrowded
country, while bearing witness to their wondrous past.

In my paper on the Numerical Analysis of Khmer city of Yashodharpura, King

Yashovarman, and the concept of Yashodhar ( Hindu God KRISHNA) I have dealt with the
astronomical and numerological aspects of Yashodharpura and I find it fascinating that
Yashovarman was named after Yashodhar or Krishna alost 800 years ago in a land so far
away from the Hindusthan( Land of the Hindus as India is alternately called) and he chose to
name his city also after KRISHNA yet the presiding diety of the Khmer empires over a
period time was Shiva or Vishnu.

1590
 The first temple Mountain of Yashodharpura-Phnom Bakheng
. Anchoring the city was its only natural hill, Phnom Bakheng, with each of Angkor’s temples
then positioned in “orbit” around this hill, while the city’s outer walls symbolized the edge of
the cosmos and its irrigation system represented the rivers of this universe.
1. Edge of the Cosmos Orbit

2. The rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Saraswathi, Narmada, Sindhu (Indus) and
Kaveri are referred to as the 'Sapta nadis' in Hindu mythology.

Built more than two centuries before Angkor Wat, Phnom Bakheng lays claim as the first of
the mountain temples constructed in the Angkor region. It was once the architectural
centrepiece of Yasodharapura, the second capital city of the Khmer Empire, and is testimony
to the power of symmetry.

The temples feature five tiers with seven levels in all when you include the base and the
summit. Four towers stand at the cardinal points on the summit of the temple with a central
sanctuary to create a layout that represents Mt. Meru, a portrayal given further weight by the
temples location atop a 65m-high hill that rises steeply from the surrounding plain.

Many visitors time their visit to Phnom Bakheng with sunset for the remarkable views out
over Angkor Wat. Despite a distance of 1.3km, it's possible to see the five towers of Angkor
Wat as they fall into the gloom of the jungle as the light fades. It's one of the most popular
vantage points for sunset, for good reason, and attracts large groups of visitors.

Dedicated to Shiva, Phnom Bakheng is a Hindu temple in the form of a temple mountain. It
was constructed at the end of the 9th century, more than two centuries before Angkor Wat ,
during the reign of King Yasovarman. Phnom Bakheng was the architectural centerpiece of a
new capital, Yasodharapura.
The temple faces east and is built in a pyramid form of six tiers. Upon its completion it
boasted 108 small towers around the temple at ground level and on several tiers. Only a few
of the towers now remain. Located on top of a hill, the temple is a very popular tourist spot
for the magnificent sunset views.
In 2004, World Monuments Fund began to survey, analyze, and plan for the conservation of the site,
thanks to a grant of $550,000 from the U.S. Department of State. The result of this effort, built on the
contributions of international and local experts, was the 2007 Phnom Bakheng Conservation Master
Plan. Since then, WMF and the APSARA National Authority have collaborated to advance the vision
of this comprehensive plan through emergency repairs, carefully executed conservation interventions,
and improved visitor management.