Jayavaraman II

Jayavarman II was a Khmer prince who founded and became the ruler of the Khmer Empire after unifying the Khmer civilization. The Khmer Empire was the dominant civilization in mainland Southeast Asia from the 9th century until the mid-15th century. Jayavarman II was a powerful Khmer king who declared independence from a polity inscriptions named "Java", which most probably refers to the island of Java in the Indonesian archipelago. Jayavarman II founded many capitals such as Mahendraparvata, Indrapura, Amarendrapura, and Hariharalaya. Before Jayavarman II came to power, there was much fighting among local overlords who ruled different parts of Cambodia, and much of the area fell under the orbit of the Shailendra dynasty of Srivijaya. As a child, Jayavarman II had been held in captivity or exile in Java, and was installed as Java's vassal around 800. By starting off with small weak kingdoms, he built himself up from there eventually leading to the Khmer Empire. No inscriptions by Jayavarman II have been found. Later kings of the Khmer Empire described him as a warrior and the most powerful king from that time frame that they could recall. Historians formerly dated his reign as running from 802 CE to 835 CE.