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The Cham Invasion That Nearly Destroyed Angkor
Description
In 1177, a Cham fleet sailed up the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers, caught the Khmer navy by surprise at the Great Lake, and sacked Angkor—ending the reign of King Tribhuvanadityavarman. Lucas and Luna revisit one of Southeast Asia's most dramatic turning points: the naval battle on Tonle Sap, the Cham occupation of the capital, and the unlikely return of Prince Jayavarman—who would later rebuild the empire as Jayavarman VII. They explore the Cham perspective, the strategic genius of the river raid, and how this defeat sparked Angkor's greatest building spree. Along the way, they touch on Cham-Khmer rivalry, the role of the Tonle Sap's reverse-flow hydrology, and the cultural scars that shaped Jayavarman VII's later monuments—including the temple-mountain of Ta Prohm and the enigmatic faces of Bayon. A story of catastrophic surprise and defiant rebirth.