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Drinking a Blood Oath: A New Interpretation of Angkor Wat

Colloquium Series: Robert L. Brown, Professor of Indian and Southeast Asian Art History at UCLA; Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art at LACMA

Wednesday, May 07, 2003
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM
6275 Bunche Hall
UCLA
Los Angeles, CA 90095

Perhaps no other monument in Southeast Asia is as well-known as Angkor Wat
in Cambodia.  Today it is visited by thousands of Cambodian and foreign
tourists each year.  Yet, why it was made and what it means continue to
produce scholarly debate.  Much of the interpretation relies on the detailed
wall murals carved in relief that surround the massive monument.  The talk
offers a new interpretation of the reliefs, arguing that they represent an
oath of fealty given to the King Suryavarman II that involved drinking
blood.  The oath bound the King's generals through the threat of rebirth in
hell.

Cost: free and open to the public

For more information please contact

Barbara Gaerlan
Tel: (310) 206-9163

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Sponsor(s): Center for Southeast Asian Studies