Ask any Cambodian about Queen Jayarājadevī and he will tell you that Jayavarman VII married her first, and, when she died, married her sister Indradevī.
But George Coedès wrote that when Jayarājadevī died, Jayavarman VII elevated Indradevī, a lesser queen, to principal queen. Which meant that he was married to both of them at the same time.
Wait - it gets even more complicated. The inscription on the Preah Khan Stele records that Jayavarman VII married Rājendradevī first, and that she bore his first son.
This description of Jayarājadevī, written by Indradevī in the Phimeanakas inscription, has survived:
“[her] asceticism, her virtuous conduct, her tears, her likeness to Sita, found by her husband and then separated from him, her body thinned by observances, her religion, her devotion to him, her joy at his ultimate return.”
“separated from him” is believed to refer to the period when he was absent from Angkor on a military campaign against the Cham kingdom to the east, thought to be seven years. “thinned by observances” is believed to mean that she fasted excessively (she was very religious).
Legend tells us that she was very much in love with her husband. And that she cried a lot; in fact there is a bas relief of her at Banteay Chmar in which she appears to be crying.
By the time I learned that Jayavarman VII had married Rājendradevī first, I had already learned that the lives of many of the Angkorian queens were very sad. Because they had no control of their lives. I wondered what had happened to Jayarājadevī. This is what I believe was the sequence of events:
Before he became king, Jayavarman VII married Rājendradevī.
Rājendradevī died, and he married Jayarājadevī.
Upon his coronation in 1181 he was required to take four more wives, so that he would have five. One of these wives was Indradevī, at Jayarājadevī’s insistence.
By 1190 Jayarājadevī knew she was dying, and asked Jayavarman VII to elevate Indradevī to principal queen. And he did so, so that she could see that it was done. That’s why we see Indradevī portrayed as the goddess Ganga in Preah Khan, and Jayarājadevī portrayed as mortal - as though Indradevī were the principal queen, and Jayarājadevī the second.
This sequence is a radical theory, but it’s the only one that makes sense. I will continue my research.
I think Jayarājadevī was put in a series of impossible situations. She was very much in love with her husband, but then, he was gone for many years. She was not yet queen, and her husband was not the heir apparent; what was her status at Angkor? She would not be able to bear him children until he returned. And she didn't know if he would return (he might be killed in the military campaign). When he did finally return, upon his coronation he had to take four other wives. I think she simply did everything she could to cope, but couldn’t. And I think that’s why she died before she should have.