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Iconoclasm | |
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About the middle of the 13th century images of the Buddha and the Bodhisattva were systematically destroyed by scratching out the reliefs; statues were defaced or smashed to bits. This was a backlash against the policy of King Jayavarman VII, who had pushed the supremacy of the Bodhisattva, and displaced Shiva.
Scratched out image of the Buddha or the Bodhisattva, Preah Khan. |
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About the 16th century a second iconoclasm happened. Buddhist monks reshaped the quincunx towers of the Phnom Bakheng to the ruin of a huge Buddha statue. This ruin was removed between 1919 and 1930: only traces of the once impressiv towers have remained. References Glaize 2003, p. 65, 118. Dumarcay 2003, p. 76-79. Roveda 2005, 40-43. |
Buddhist monks also dilapidated the Baphuon to pile up at its west face a huge relief of the transcending Buddha. They dedicated the Vishnu temple Angkor Wat to the Buddha, expelled the statue of Vishnu in the central sanctuary and walled up the openings, thus disfiguring the most delicious part of this temple. |