Radiating Lokeshvara Torso—Cambodia

Radiating Lokeshvara Torso

Cambodia, Angkor kingdom (802-1432),

Bayon style, 12"-13

"century

Sandstone

Gift of John Young in Memory of His Parents Mr. and Mrs. Young Hin, and in Honor of the Academy's 50* Anniversary, 1977

(4483.1)

The second half of the twelfth century saw political strife within the Angkor kingdom, and invasion from the Cham region in southern Vietnam. The Chams finally were repelled (and eventually conquered) by the last great ruler of the Angkor kingdom, Jayavarman VII. Jayavarman VII was the first major Buddhist monarch of the Angkor period, and his establishment of Buddhist monuments, building of a new capital in Angkor to restore the devastation caused by the Cham invasion, and numerous public works, including hospitals, roads, and water reservoirs, initiated a great cultural efflorescence during the late twelfth-early thirteenth century.

Jayavarman VI's state temple, the Bayon, emphasized the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Lokeshvara, whose name means "Lord of the World." This image shows Lokeshvara manifesting the entire cosmos within his body, with the many Buddhas that reside in it radiating as miniature images from each of his pores. Unique to the Angkor kingdom, such depictions of the "Radiating Lokeshvara" are among the most distinctive sculptures of the Bayon style.