Our biggest problem - both yours and mine - in looking back into the civilization of Angkor is the misinformation that has been published about it. Much of it is in coffee-table books, where the photographs are dazzling but the scholarship is often lacking. But professional scholars have made mistakes, too. In Through the Eyes of a Queen - the Women of the Royal Court at Angkor you’ll find a chapter entitled “Angkor Unscrambled!”, in which I’ve attempted to do a bit of unscrambling. And give credit to those scholars who got it right.
Here’s an example. As you read on the “Theories Already Proven” tab, the 1860+ standing figures at Angkor Wat once correctly called devatā are now called apsarā. As if that weren’t bad enough, so are the yakshī. We see yakshī on almost every Angkorian temple, from Preah Ko in 879 C.E. to the last temple built in the Preah Pithu group more than three centuries later. They’ve all been misidentified as apsarā.
Misinformation spreads. Faster than Covid-19. Early in 2025 I went to Surin, Thailand, and studied the female figures at some of the Angkorian temples there. What I found was that the yakshī are now called apsarā. This misidentification spread from Cambodia to another country!
Once the bad information is out there, it’s picked up by other scholars. They republish it, and it skews their research. It gets into theses, magazine articles, encyclopedias… Then A.I. picks it up. And when it gets into Wikipedia? Game Over.
But often, it’s easy to get it right. Take a look.
Some scholars (professional scholars) have written that the Khmer alphabet evolved from Brahmi, others have said from Devanāgarī, and others have said from Pallava. Having studied Khmer, Sanskrit, and Cambodian and Indian history, I thought the answer must be Pallava. After a little research, I prepared this comparison table for my readers:
The answer jumps right off the page. Why is this of such monumental importance? It underscores the magnitude of the influence of the Pallavas of South India on the emerging Cambodian civilization. And which scholars got it right? Sanjeev Sanyal and Marilia Albanese.
I got the information on the four alphabets from the Internet. It didn’t take more than 15 minutes.
I study the female figures on the Angorian temples (including the queens), and Angkorian and contemporary Cambodian silk. Just three fields. As of October, 2025 this is the list of errors I’ve found in print, and the diligent scholars who have countered with the correct information. But who knows what else is out there. If you’re a scholar studying the Cambodian civilization and encounter errors in print, please record them on your website as I have here. And include those scholars who countered with the correct information. Thank you!
The Identity of Female Figures
The 5 figures heading the procession of women in the Southern Gallery of Angkor Wat aren’t “ladies of the palace”, “princesses” or “concubines”, they’re Sūryavarman II’s queens. Scholar who got it right: D. S. Sood (Archeological Survey of India)
The bas relief in Preah Khan worshipped by locals as Jayārājadevī and Indradevī are Jayavarman VII’s queens. Indradevī has been portrayed as the goddess Gangā; she stands on a makara. A board blocks our view of what Jayārājadevī stands on. Scholar who got it right: D. S. Sood
The standing women in Angkor Wat (other than those in the galleries) are not dancers, apsarā, goddesses or “celestial concubines”, but palace and temple staff. Scholar who got it right: D. S. Sood
The appellation of the standing women in Angkor Wat (other than those in the galleries) is devatā. Scholar who got it right: Preah Maha Vimaladhamma Pin-Sem Sirisuvanno (Abbot, Wat Bo Siem Reap, second-highest-ranking Buddhist monk in Cambodia and one of the world’s foremost authorities on the Angkorian civilization)
Not all apsarā were born of the Churning of the Sea of Milk. According to Monier-Williams only one, Rambhā, was born this way. (The hundreds of apsarā floating up from the Sea of Milk in Angkor Wat is either a Khmer interpretation of the apsarā myth, or repetition of the figure of Rambhā hundreds of times.) Scholar who got it right: Sir Monier Monier-Williams (author of A Sanskrit-English Dictionary)
Because Sūryavarman II was at war with two kingdoms to the east, everyone in the royal procession in the Southern Gallery of Angkor Wat (including the Procession of the Queens) would have had some type of security clearance. And a reason to be in the procession. It is probable that most of the women would have been drawn from the elite. Scholar who got it right: C. B. Srey
The 6 women in carts following the queens in the Southern Gallery of Angkor Wat are carrying food to the Vishnu pūjā. They’re like the “Servants in Carts” that Zhou Daguan wrote of, but they’re probably from the Angkorian elite; they would have had a security clearance, and the last one is holding what looks like an emblem of high rank. Scholar who got it right: C. B. Srey
The men and women on foot carrying food to the pūjā in the Southern Gallery of Angkor Wat are like Zhou’s “Bearers of Vessels”. Zhou wrote that the vessels in the royal processions he saw were silver and gold. This group may have been drawn from the elite because they were entrusted with these valuable objects. Scholar who got it right: C. B. Srey
Most of the women in the bas relief of Angkor Wat were not “maidens”, but married women (Sūryavarman II’s queens, Rama’s queen Sita, the apsarā (married to gandharva), and the ch’en-chia-lan (Zhou’s “errand-runners”). We don’t know how many of the devatā were married. Scholars who got it right: Zhou Daguan (Chinese emissary to Angkor in 1296); Sir Monier Monier-Williams
The 8 door guards and 16 women dressed like them (with long chain belts) on the outside walls of the sanctum on the highest level of Angkor Wat are not apsarā, devatā or goddesses, but yakshī. Scholar who got it right: C. B. Srey
The female door guards around the inner sanctums of Angkorian temples are not devatā or apsarā, but yakshī. Scholar who got it right: C. B. Srey
The people at the end of the Procession of the Queens in Angkor Wat were not villagers, but royal messengers. Scholar who got it right: C. B. Srey
Language
Mortal temple dancers were called, “dancing girls” (nāṭikāḥ), not apsarā or “apsarā dancers”. Source: inscription on the Preah Khan Stele
The Khmer alphabet evolved from Pallava (a South Indian alphabet), not from Devanāgarī or Brahmi. Scholars who got it right: Marilia Albanese (Angkor – Splendors of the Khmer Civilization), Sanjeev Sanyal (The Ocean of Churn)
Nagara means, “city”, not “palace”. Scholar who got it right: Sir Monier Monier-Williams
“Angkor” evolved from the Sanskrit nagara (“city”), not from nāga (“snake”). Scholar who got it right: Saveros Pou (Lexique de Sanskrit)
The form of the guardian lion came to Angkor from India, as evidenced by the fact that the modern Khmer word for “lion” came from the Sanskrit word “singha” and the lion is native to India but not to China. Angkorian lions show influence from Indian, Persian, Javanese, Chinese and Khmer art. Scholar who got it right: C. B. Srey
Fashion and Dress
The Chan “flower” is not a flower, but the calyx (dried leaves on the top) of the ripe persimmon fruit. It is one of the most common designs in Cambodian brocade, but is almost never seen in Cambodian ikat. Scholar who got it right: C. B. Srey
What look like braids in the coiffures of the devatā are actually sprigs of coconut flowers. Scholar who got it right: Sappho Marchal (Khmer Costumes and Ornaments of the Devatas)
The elaborate coiffures of the devatā could be created in 3 easy steps: knot the hair on top of the head, put on the crown, insert the flowers. Scholar who got it right: Sappho Marchal
Mythical figures wore mythical clothing, mortals wore real clothing. For example, the yakshī at Lolei wore skirts with an unmanageable number of folds (not pleats, which are, by definition, sewn), but a statue thought to be Queen Indradevī at the Bakong (Indravarman I standing with his principal and second queens, no longer in situ) wore only 13 folds. Scholar who got it right: C. B. Srey
At Angkor Wat we see mirrors used in two very different ways. Two queens are holding them, I think to indicate introspection. The devatā are using them to put flowers in their hair. We see no makeup anywhere. Scholar who got it right: C. B. Srey
Based on comparisons of Khmer ikat (hol) and Indian paṭola, the former evolved from the later. (This is a theory that has not yet been proven; see A Pocket Guide to Cambodian Silk for comparisons.) Scholar who got it right: C. B. Srey
History
The ancient trading center of Oc-Eo was an Indian city, not a Khmer city. Scholar who got it right: George Coedès (The Indianized States of Southeast Asia)
Indian influence pervades contemporary Cambodian culture; it is not just a thin veneer. Scholars who got it right: George Coedès, David P. Chandler
It’s clear from inscriptions and Coedès’ genealogy that the Indian caste system permeated Angkorian society. Scholar who got it right: C. B. Srey
Considering that Jayavarman VII used the name, Jayavarman (“varman” indicated his caste group), and that he took Kshatriya women for his 1st and 2nd queens, it’s more likely that he was trying to abolish segregation by caste than that he was trying to abolish the entire caste system. Scholar who got it right: C. B. Srey
Brahman women marrying Kshatriya men breach the rules of caste, but Brahman men marrying Kshatriya women do not (no one “loses caste”). The inter-marriage between Brahman men and Kshatriya women does not mean that caste was not strong at Angkor. Scholar who got it right: C. B. Srey
The queens’ procession in the Southern Gallery of Angkor Wat is en route to a Gangā Dussehra pūjā. Scholar who got it right: C. B. Srey
With 1 known exception (6th century) it was the queens (not the concubines) who bore the kings’ child-ren (through the reign of Avarmādiparameshvara). Who got it right: Thy Khieu (Angkor Tour Guide Association)
Sūryavarman II allowed his queens to adopt children. Scholar who got it right: Pra Ratana Visukh Sithong Heng
Sūryavarman II’s palace and administrative buildings were not in the Angkor Wat compound. Lidar and archeological excavations indicate that the area around the temple was inhabited primarily by temple servants. Scholars who got it right: Michael D. Coe, Damian Evans (Angkor and the Khmer Civilization)
Neak Poan was not a “spa”; there are no mineral springs here, and, per Zhou, it was Srah Srang that the citizenry was using for bathing and relaxation. According to the Preah Khan Stele, it was a retreat. Source: inscription on the Preah Khan Stele
The celestial apsarās’ dance in the bas relief of Angkor Wat, the Bayon, Preah Khan, etc. was most probably Bharatnatyam, from South India. As was the dance we see performed by mortal dancers for the royal court, at the Bayon and Banteay Chmar. (Today’s “Apsarā Dance” was developed in the 1950s.) Scholars who got it right: D. S. Sood, C. B. Srey
The celestial apsarās’ dance was not a mystical dance associated with Mahayana Buddhism. If it were we would not see it in the Hindu temples, or being performed by mortals for the court with musical accompaniment. Scholar who got it right: C. B. Srey
The lintels in the Hall of Dancers at Preah Khan were probably not carved “so there would always be someone to dance for the gods”. According to the inscription on the Preah Khan Stele there were originally images of many Hindu gods in the complex, but it was primarily a Buddhist institution. The lintels were, most probably, meant to be purely decorative. Scholar who got it right: C. B. Srey
Śrīndravarman’s audience hall was not on the Terrace of the Elephants; this area is too small. And, in the afternoon, it would have been too hot. Scholar who got it right: C. B. Srey