A ballista elephant, also known as a Khmer ballista, is a war elephant mounted with a simple or double-bowed ballista which was used by the Angkorian civilization. They are considered as the summit of sophistication of Khmer weaponry comparable to the carrobalista in the legion of Vegetius. [1]
The ballista elephant is unique to Khmer civilization: the Khmer ballista is an over-proportioned crossbow which is more complicated in its mechanism than the Austroasiatic crossbow as it becomes a small catapult carried on the backs of elephants. Two bows facing each other are cocked simultaneously by sliding the rope attached to the rear bow by combining the two triggers. It was probably horizontal but, because Khmer stone carvers did not yet master the technique of perspective, the sculptor had to represent it vertically. [2]
The ballista elephant is an evolution from the Austroasiatic crossbow. The discussions as to the origin of the Asian crossbow has been, to a lesser extent, applied to the ballista as well as almost identical war machines have been observed in China. Ballistas mounted on chariots with wheels are also represented on the walls of the Bayon; but the specifically Khmer character of this ballista is that it was mounted on elephants.
It appears that the ballista was not of Khmer origin. However, it was a combination of various elements of Chinese warfare equipment, which was upcycled by creatively mounting it on the back of a war elephant. [3] The elephant ballista is represented in the bas-relief of both Banteay Chhmar and Bayon. However, the carvings of the Bayon are more intricate and shows more technical mechanisms, the one in Banteay Chhmar shows a certain simplification of the weapon. In Bayon, the elephant ballista is loaded by soldiers in Cham uniform, suggesting that the Khmer ballista may have been integrated into the Angkorian army by Cham mercenaries. In both cases, they appear only in the great military parade which may suggest that the elephant ballista never made it to the battlefield for practical reasons. By all means, the ballista elephant is evidence of the technological sophistication of the Khmer army and weaponry. [4]
After French explorator Henri Mouhot led by Catholic missionary Emile Bouillevaux was the first foreigner to explore Angkor Wat with an archeological intention in the 1860, the discovery for the elephant ballista exerted a certain fantasy on the imagination of foreigners. Beyond fantasy, it also contributed to restoring the timeline of Cambodian history. It was first studied by Georges Groslier in 1921. [2]
First of all, the complexity of the elephant ballista which was represented in the Bayon and not in Angkor Wat was one of the factors that led Georges Coedes to doubt his own chronology. In fact, he mistakenly believed that the Bayon was anterior to Angkor Wat, but the presence of the elephant ballista and other sophisticated military apparel in Bayon and its absence in Angkor Wat, which would have been a terrible recession, was a conundrum for him.
The elephant ballista also helped archeologists better understand the role, influence of and relationship of the Khmer civilization with China. In fact, it was first believed that the China ballista was taken from the Angkorian model. Hervey de Saint-Denys who was a Sinologist himself believed some elements of Chinese artillery, particularly the double-bow, could have been of Khmer origin. [5] However, the giant ballista were already in use in 1127 during the Jingkang incident during the Jin–Song Wars. [6] In 1282, the Cham defended themselves against Mongol invasions using such ballistas [7] which were also found in Burma during the Second Mongol invasion of Burma. Therefore, rather than Khmer origin of the mounted bow, the spread of the ballista across Asia shows how Chinese warfare in the region played a major in the development of warfare technology in Asia. [8]
Khmer architecture, also known as Angkorian architecture, is the architecture produced by the Khmers during the Angkor period of the Khmer Empire from approximately the later half of the 8th century CE to the first half of the 15th century CE.
Angkor, also known as Yasodharapura, 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.
Funan was the name given by Chinese cartographers, geographers and writers to an ancient Indianized state—or, rather a loose network of states (Mandala)—located in mainland Southeast Asia centered on the Mekong Delta that existed from the first to sixth century CE. The name is found in Chinese historical texts describing the kingdom, and the most extensive descriptions are largely based on the report of two Chinese diplomats, Kang Tai and Zhu Ying, representing the Eastern Wu dynasty who sojourned in Funan in the mid-3rd century CE.
The Bayon is a richly decorated Khmer temple related to Buddhism at Angkor in Cambodia. Built in the late 12th or early 13th century as the state temple of the King Jayavarman VII, the Bayon stands at the centre of Jayavarman's capital, Angkor Thom.
Jayavarman VII, posthumous name of Mahaparamasaugata, was king of the Khmer Empire. He was the son of King Dharanindravarman II and Queen Sri Jayarajacudamani. He was the first king devoted to Buddhism, as only one prior Khmer king was a Buddhist. He then built the Bayon as a monument to Buddhism. Jayavarman VII is generally considered the most powerful of the Khmer monarchs by historians. His government built many projects including hospitals, highways, rest houses and temples. With Buddhism as his motivation, King Jayavarman VII is credited with introducing a welfare state that served the physical and spiritual needs of the Khmer people.
George Cœdès was a French scholar of southeast Asian archaeology and history.
Beng Mealea, or Boeng Mealea, is a temple from the Angkor Wat period located 40 km (25 mi) east of the main group of temples at Angkor, Cambodia, on the ancient royal highway to Preah Khan Kompong Svay.
Kbach or Khmer ornamentation is made of traditional decorative elements of Cambodian architecture. While 'kbach' may refer to any sort of art-form style in the Khmer language, such as a gesture in Khmer classical dance, kbach rachana specifically refers to decorative ornament motifs. Kbach are also used in decorating of Cambodian silver crafts, furniture, regalia, murals, pottery, ceramics, stone carving, in a singular artistic expression:
the exceptional advantage that the Khmers have drawn from nature and the human experience as the universal framework of any aesthetic experience has contributed to rendering in the kbach one of the most remarkable traits of human genius, that of artistic expression.
Henri Marchal was a French architect and civil servant. He devoted a great part of his life to research on the art and archeology of Cambodia and the conservation and restoration of Khmer monuments at the archeological site of Angkor, in Cambodia.
Louis Finot was a French archeologist and researcher, specialising in the cultures of Southeast Asia. A former director of the Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient, his contribution to the study of Khmer history, architecture and epigraphy is widely recognised.
The archeological complex of Preah Khan of Kampong Svay or Prasat Bakan or Bakan Svay Rolay is located 100 km east of Angkor, in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia. It stands as the largest single religious complex ever built during Angkorian Era, as its exterior enclosure is over 22 km square, even if the isolated location makes it one of the less-visited Angkorian sites.
A Dharmasala or a house of fire, or house with fire, is the name given to a place where people, especially pilgrims, can rest on a journey. It is a type of building found in Angkorian complexes constructed during the reign of late 12th-century monarch Jayavarman VII and still found in Preah Khan, Ta Prohm and Banteay Chhmar.
Wat Althea, also called Prasat Vat Althea, is a 12th-century Hindu temple at Angkor, Cambodia with an active Buddhist temple and cemetery adjacent to the walled ancient structure.
A colonnette is a small slender column, usually decorative, which supports a beam or lintel. Colonettes have also been used to refer to a feature of furnishings such as a dressing table and case clock, and even studied by archeologists in Roman ceramics. Architectural colonnettes are typically found in "a group in a parapet, balustrade, or cluster pier". The term columnette has also been used to refer to thin columns. In Khmer art, the colonnette designates in particular the columns which frame the doors of the sanctuaries and which are one of the dating elements of their style. Summits of complexity were attained in the development of the Khmer colonnette, according to Philippe Stern:
There a few designs which present, as well as the khmer colonnette, a continuity of evolution, the persistence of a direction, which, though it may weaken at times, is taken up again each time.
The Traditional Khmer Housing refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings by the Khmer people since the ancient time and evolved until today. In Cambodia, there are many Khmer style houses that are built in different ways depending on hierarchy and purposes. In special terms, the house is a symbol of prosperity in the national society, and it serves the lives of the people in each village, which is culture and nature The Khmer has long been known to traditionally live on different designs of stilt house and also has a multi-leveled floor and gable finials at both ends of the roof ridge.
Wat Moha Leap, or vatt Mahā Lābh (វត្តមហាលាភ), is a century-old Buddhist pagoda in Kampong Cham province, Cambodia. It is the country's last standing temple with a wooden structure.
Chhim Krasem was a member of the Khmer intelligentsia during the first half of the 20th century during the period of transition from the French protectorate to the independent Kingdom of Cambodia.
Khmer jewellery originated in the Khmer Empire. Khmer jewellery has been produced since the 6th or 7th century. Jayavarman VII, while he was an influential figure who established the different trends in Khmer jewellery, is famously represented without any at all in the seated position. The amount of jewellery acquired in Cambodia traditionally established a person's identity and status. Khmer jewellery consists of a diverse variety of styles and fashions. These styles can be categorised into three distinct groups: royal jewellery, wedding jewellery and the jewellery for the Cambodian Royal Ballet.
The portrait of Jayavarman VII is a stone bust carved in Angkor during the late 12th or early 13th century representing Jayavarman VII and currently conserved at the Guimet Museum in Paris. It is one of the landmarks of the aesthetics of the Bayon style.
The Austroasiatic crossbow which is also known as the Hmong primitive bow, the Jarai crossbow, or the Angkorian crossbow is a crossbow used for war and for hunting in Southeast Asia. It has become a symbol of pride and identity for ethnic groups from Burma to the confines of Indochina.
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