Versions The version of
The Poem of Angkor Wat was originally inscribed on the temples of Angkor Wat and was first written in modern script in 1878 by the French khmerologist
Étienne Aymonier as "''Edification d'Angkor Vat ou Satra de Prea Kêt Mealéa
" (sic''). Later in 2009, Sokha Thoum, Horm Chhayly, and Hay Vanneth reorganized into modern, easier-to-read scripts, including a glossary for interpreting the ancient words used in the poem.
Date and authorship According to khmerologist Grégory Mikaelian,
The Poem of Angkor Wat is a
cosmogonic text of a new literary genre wanted by the royal government of
Oudong engaged in a cycle of refoundation of power following the fall of their capital
Longvek conquered by the Siamese in 1594. Variously dated 1598 and 1620, a philological study of
The Poem of Angkor Wat by Pou Saveros has established its date of composition as 1620 AD and attributed its authorship to a certain Pang Tat, called Neak Pang.
Style The Khmer poem is rich in
alliterative and
rhyming words. The poem is long and uses three different
meters:
Bat Prohmkoet, Bat Kakketi, and
Bat Pomnol. According to Pou Saveros, much of it defies any intelligence, which contrasts with the clarity of
Khmer inscription IMA 38 known as the "great inscription of Angkor".
Shifting memories The Poem of Angkor Wat is a witness to the cultural shift of Cambodia after the
fall of Longvek and reflects the "harmonization of [the] Brahmanic heritage and Theravada ideology." One of the main characters, Ketumala, corresponds to King
Suryavarman II, in the first half of the twelfth century, the real builder of Angkor Wat, but at the time of composition the poem in the seventeenth century, Suryavarman II had already vanished from people's minds. == Influence ==