Jayavarman VIII

Jayavarman VIII (born c. 1210) ruled the Khmer Empire from 1243 to 1295. A Shaivite, he reversed the Buddhism of his father Jayavarman VII, destroying Buddha images at Preah Khan, turning the Bayon into a temple of Shiva and casting its great Buddha statue into a well.

In 1281 he imprisoned Mongol envoys in Champa, and when Kublai Khan's armies invaded in 1283 he bought peace with tribute. In 1290 Lavo threw off Khmer overlordship, and a war with the Siamese devastated the kingdom. He endowed the Mangalartha shrine in 1295, shortly before his son-in-law Indravarman III forced him to abdicate.