The Terrace of The Leper King

The Terrace of the Leper King was built in the late 12th Century under the reign of King Jayavarman VII. This construction was to serve as a cremation for the funeral ceremony of the only royal family, the high Brahmins the dignitary family so on, not for the ordinary people. The location of this terrace is next to the north of the Elephant Terrace. In 1960, the French took to restore this structure. During the restoration they excavated into its foundation, and then the French found another wall (second inner wall) with beautiful caving in the ground that they had never expected. 

Besides, the inner wall, the French also found human bones, charcoal, and fragment pieces of wooden pole (pole to hold the flags) during their works as well. However, the name of the Leper King came after a statue on the top of its building. According to the local people, they referred to this statue as a person had leprosy. Because this statue is naked position, has long hair and mustard, and even his fingers, his toes, and his earlobe have been broken off, then making the local people think these problems caused by the leprosy suffer him. However, the French did not believe this statue was a person who suffered from leprosy, they believed this statue should be the god Yama who took care of Death, due to this structure serving as a crematorium. On the other hand, the original statue of the Leper King was moved to be kept in the National Museum in Phnom Penh. Thus, the statue we are seeing just a reproduction only. 

To have two walls (outer and inner) in the Terrace of the Leper King symbolize two worlds, the world of Deva (good man) and the world of Asura (bad man). Because the concept of Khmer architecture adopted the idea that the universe comprises a lot of worlds, that means this terrace complex represents the universe complex. As it's represented to the universe contains many worlds, that's why in the reliefs of this terrace, there is the ocean's life like fish, crocodiles, turtles, snakes, and craps so on, including the human caving depicted in the outer wall are represented to the happy life in the seven havens of Deva (Gods), while in the inner wall has its caving depicting the life of the Demon' worlds combination with the Naga's worlds at the bottom as well.