Divākarapaṇḍita

▪ Cambodian adviser

original name  Divākara  

born 1040, Cambodia

died c. 1120

      Hindu of the Brahman (priestly) caste who rose through religious and administrative ranks to serve four Cambodian kings—Harshavarman II, Jayavarman VI, Dharanindravarman I, and the great Suryavarman II—and who was the most trusted adviser to three of them.

      The highly opportunistic Divākara was able not only to survive the successive usurpations of monarchies but also to ingratiate himself with each new sovereign. Divākarapaṇḍita played a singular role in Cambodian history, for it was at his urging that Suryavarman II began construction of the temple of Angkor Wat, one of the world's largest religious edifices and certainly one of the greatest achievements of ancient Khmer, or Cambodian, civilization. One of the monuments of Angkor Wat commemorates this powerful Brahman.

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