Image index

The Chams once ruled a Hindu kingdom called Champa whose influence extended through what is now southern Vietnam and Cambodia. This monument was built between the seventh and twelfth centuries CE.

Built by the Chams, this Hindu complex is named after Po Nagar, a local goddess of rice farming.

A Hindu deity dances to the music of a flute in this relief carving at Po Nagar.

This statue of Ganesha, the Hindu god of intellect, wisdom, and good fortune, was carved by the Chams in the eighth century.

The Khmer ruled what is now Cambodia for a thousand years, beginning in about 800 CE. Their temples, like this one at Banteay Srei, often portray the ruling king as a god, with shrines within a monument that models the design of the cosmos and heavens.

The door behind this guardian statue at Banteay Srei is a false door, for deities only.

This Hindu deity and monster guard the Khmer temple at Bantreay Srei.

A carved stone lion statue stands on guard near a causeway over the huge water reservoir and moat surrounding Angkor Wat, the largest temple complex at the ancient Khmer capital of Angkor.

Four of the five central towers at Angkor Wat form a mandala, a geometric design of a perfected world.

The view from the top of Angkor Wat's central tower encompasses the temple complex and the tropical forest beyond.

Female deities with spiked crowns dance for the entertainment of the gods.

Throughout Southeast Asia, carved stone or wood deity and ancestor statues often were (and are) dressed with real clothes that are replaced periodically at ritual events.

Mythic statues line the causeway over a moat leading to the south gate of Angkor Thom, literally called “Great City.”

This “face tower” at Bayon Temple at Angkor Thom represented the Buddhist Khmer king Jayavarman VII as a god.

Carved stone reliefs of Garuda, a Hindu mythical bird who transports the god Vishnu, appear to support the Elephant Terrace at Angkor Thom.

The octopus-like roots of a tree grow over a building entrance just before the inner moat at Angkor's Ta Prohm.

The temple of Preah Khan, which means “Sacred Sword” in Khmer, was built at the site of Jayavarman VII's victory over Cham invaders in 1181 CE.

These Buddhist monks in saffron-colored robes are part of a revival of Buddhism that has taken place in Cambodia since the 1970s.

These young men made a living by escorting and protecting foreign tourists visiting Banteay Srei Temple in 1997.

Classical Khmer dances with roots in ancient Hindu and Buddhist court traditions have been partly revived since the fall of the Khmer Rouge.