Terrace of the Leper King

The Terrace of the Leper King, also known as Preah Lean Sdach Kumlung, is located in Angkor Thom, immediately north of the Terrace of the Elephants and just south of Tep Pranam. It’s a unique construction in the ancient Khmer context featuring an amazing array of carvings of personages, devas, royalty and animal figures. It’s one of the highlights of Angkor.

The central focus of the site is its grand protrusion with 8m high and 23m wide walls featuring seven registers of personages and mythological figures which is then repeated on an internal wall accessed on either side. The outer wall features a lower register with five and seven headed naga (mythical serpent) at the corners and a grand nine-headed naga at the center flanked by naga-princesses (noting their headdress). The above registers feature what we can only assume to be divinities, royalty and elite, fascinatingly, all unique.

The internal wall is even more curious, in particular its side wings, featuring a far more diverse array of characters and scenes including palace depictions, numerous aquatic creatures and animals. Heading inside, again seven registers similar to the outer wall although this time we see court dancers occasionally interfused among the elite.

The carvings we see here are of the same likeness as seen adorning the stepped embankment of Sra Srei, the large basin inside the Royal Palace. Atop the site sits a statue from which the site draws its name, the Leper King. More on that further below.

Layout

History

Whilst Angkor Thom, and in particular the Royal palace area, have received constructions and alterations over differing eras, it is widely considered that this section with its registers of reliefs, was built in the Bayon style under Jayavarman VII.

Its contemporary name derives from what some believe to be an 8th-century sculpture discovered at the site. The sculpture depicts the Hindu god Yama, the god of death while in contemporary folklore, the statue came to be known as the “Leper King” perhaps due to its discolouration at the time making it reminiscent of a person with leprosy, moreover, because it fits in with a Cambodian legend of an Angkorian king Yasovarman I who had leprosy. Many locals will also see the statue as a representation of Yeay Tep, the land guardian spirit, identical to that worshipped at the Yeay Tep shrine in central Siem Reap and elsewhere. The name that many know him by, however, is Dharmaraja Yama, as this is what was etched in an inscription at the bottom of the original statue (registered under K. 295).

As mentioned, the sculpture is believed to date to the 8th century while the terrace itself dates to a much later period of the 12th century and is speculated to have been placed there during alterations well after that time. The statue we see atop the site today is a replica of the original which is on display in the Phnom Penh National Museum.

The site was originally cleared in the early 1900s and restoration works were carried out in the late 60s to early 70s, and again in the 1990s.

Further quirks

Rising above the nine-headed naga on the outer wall is what appears to be a line of gods. At the very top of which is a multi-armed figure, a divine god no doubt, perhaps it was this seventh top register that may have defined the entire structure although not enough is still in situ to explore that thought further. Closer inspection of the multi-armed figure reveals that the arms perhaps are not a match for the body they are positioned beside.

The Terrace of the Leper King was perhaps much longer than we see today, once joining the Terrace of the Elephants at its southern end and extending 200m (or more) north. Only remnants remain of the northern section including an uncleared section north of Tep Pranam and a large Garuda carving and five-headed horse south of Tep Pranam. Also notable are remnants of a wall leading west from the terrace area that also features sandstone carvings similar in style to that of the north section of the Terrace of the Elephants.

Also, there are several cutaways revealing the blocks used for the outer wall having been recycled from a prior construction.

Next: From here, you can continue to the adjacent Tep Pranam or head south to the Terrace of the Elephants.